United Heroes Adventures: Mania Mayhem
by KingFrancisX
Summary: The second story of the Infinity Trilogy continues with Mania Mayhem. Spider-Man 2099 and Classic Sonic return in an all-new adventure. Miguel and Sonic, along with Tails and Knuckles, come together as they try to keep the Sinister Six 2099, as well as Dr. Eggman and his Hard Boiled Heavies from harnessing the unspeakable dimensional power known as the Phantom Ruby.
1. Prologue: Fast Forward

_Prologue: Fast Forward_

**New Vale City…In the year 2099 A.D.**

Welcome to Nueva Vale in the Year 2099. The world of tomorrow. Many things have changed from the era people refer to as the "Heroic Age", about a century ago. Flying cars are used as basic transportation across the city. The use of holograms is a standard. Skyscrapers are so vertically tall, one would think they touch the edge of space itself. This future world is so highly advanced, androids with complete free will and thought process co-exist with living organic species like humans, mobians, and faunus and are allowed to study in the many Huntsmen Academies in the world.

On the other hand, while the future may sound like paradise, there are some things that haven't changed. Different brands of evil still exist in this era whether it be costumed supervillains, Grimm, or perhaps the descendant of a great evil genius and his robot empire. But none are as evil as Alchemax, the most powerful corporation which controls the whole country. They create everything. For their consumers to the government. Everything is within their control. And if not, they'll take it by force with their private police force, the Public Eye.

Despite all that, Alchemax seems to have been on a bit of a decline recently. The mysterious "Convergence" of the Heroic Age that merged three universes together, also went a bit farther and suddenly merged their future timelines into the same Year of 2099, effectively causing a temporal anomaly that altered their respective timelines because of the "cosmic-reshape wave". It was a disaster at first, but things quickly got organized and now everyone from the three timelines now live peacefully together in one future. Some things haven't fully recovered from the merge. Alchemax lost quite a bit of control over the country from the sudden merge and aren't the complete big-shots they once were. They still are the biggest corporation around but now they have new competition from new rivaling companies originated from the other worlds. But when you're an evil, mindless, megacorp that craters everything it touches, they have a few means to regain control and remind the future who is the top dog.

**BGM-Sonic Forces OST-Quickening of Evil**

In one of Alchemax's Virtual Unreality facilities, scientists at of said company are hard at work in a top-secret project creating a new device that could, very well, change the world as we know it. This dangerous project was commissioned by the CEO of Alchemax, Tyler Stone. He is your typical evil businessman that loves the power and control over society and hates certain "costumed individuals" that repeatedly get in his way. He walks into the secret lab, surprising one of his scientists with his appearance.

"Mr. Stone. We didn't know you'd be coming, sir." The scientist talked to his boss.

"'Cause I'm running out of patience. Where is Serena Patel? I must speak to her on the progress of our little project?" Stone asked, wanting to know the whereabouts of one of his most brilliant employees.

"Right over there, sir." The scientist points to Dr. Patel working on their "little project".

Serena Patel is the director of Alchemax's Shadow Division and the 2099 version of her idol, Doctor Octopus, evident with her Octo-Suit that gives her six additional arms to conduct multiple experiments at once. Serena is among the greatest scientists in Nueva Vale, making her the perfect head scientist to lead "Project Valtron". Serena works her multiple arms on multiple computers stationed circularly around a large floating holo-dome in the center of the chamber. Inside the holo-dome is a mysterious floating gemstone: A magenta icosahedron ruby with black ripple patterns along its surface, small enough to fit in the palm of a hand.

While working, Serena notices her boss approaching her in a business-like demeanor, having his hands cupped behind his back while walking towards her, "Ah. Hello, Mr. Stone. A pleasure to see you. Here for an update on Project Valtron?"

"Correct. What's its current status?" Stone asked the octo-scientist.

Serena replies, "Smoothly. Should be done by tomorrow. The energy inside that gem is _astonishing_. Limitless. Ripe with potential just WAITING to be tested once completed."

"Do we have time to test it?" Stone asked, acting a little impatient.

"There might not be a need to. I'm the head of this project after all, combining the technology of Alchemax with Neutronium, or what the people of the Heroic Age called 'Iso-8'. We just finished collecting the remaining energy required, harnessed from a reclusive energy dimension brimming with Iso-8. Apparently it was the staging grounds for a 'Contest' or something." Serena stroked her ego, while also referencing a few things from the past about "Iso-8" and a "Contest".

"I didn't come for a history lecture. Can it accomplish the job, or do I have to consult with Walker Sloan and his 'pet project'?" Stone asked, looking annoyed.

Serena simply chuckled as she shows her boss a computer screen detailing the Ruby's abilities and power levels, "There will be no need for that. This 'Ruby' is a source of unlimited power that rivals the fabled 'Cosmic Cubes' and 'Chaos Emeralds'. Definitely thousands of times more useful than 'Dust'. It takes virtual reality manipulation to an ENTIRELY new level not seen in this era, almost like creating a new reality, as well as capable warping space-time to a 'remarkable' degree."

"Wouldn't it be easier to say it can warp reality?" Stone asked, wanting a simply explanation of the Ruby's powers.

"For the inferior mind, yes." Serena quipped.

"Excuse me?"

"What I'm confirming with you is that upon completion, the Ruby will serve as the keystone that'll deliver Alchemax back to the top of the world! The start of a revolution that'll lead to the birth of a new age!" Serena confirmed.

"Thank you. Don't know what happened with those jolts in the Heroic Age that merged our world with those two others, but thanks to them, Alchemax is in bit of a mess. Stocks are barely stabilized and we lost 43% of our property. Among Stark-Fujikawa, we're now competing with other companies like 'Thorndyke Industries' and the 'Schnee Dust Company', those bothersome lot. Alchemax reigns supreme, and we're going to prove it to the whole world! We will regain our former glory and DEMOLISH the competition, and I won't let _anyone _get in my way, whether be a huntsman, freedom fighter, or a costumed freak." Stone scowled, angrily walking away from the lab as Serena returns to her work.

Unknown to the megalomaniacs, a certain devious costume freak was spying on them and the Ruby from a hidden vent high above their heads. He is a man dressed in green, wearing a purple demonic-looking mask with compact purple wings capable granting him flight. He has heard the whole conversation between Stone and Petal about their plans for Alchemax using the mysterious Ruby that he can tell, from a distance, holds incredible power. Power he can't wait to steal for his own diabolical plans.

The mystery costumed villain chuckles sinisterly, "Then you better hire better security, Stone. For when the GOBLIN returns with his own little freaks, 'he' will be the one to reign _supreme_." The Goblin of the year 2099 smiles creepily, matching the maniacal and crazy demeanor of his predecessor.

**BGM End**

* * *

**BGM-Hyper Potions- Friends (Sonic Mania Opening Animation)**

**KFX Here: Back from a small break and has returned with a brand-new story, the second story of the Phantom Ruby Saga. As some of you might tell, this will be the "Sonic Mania adaptation". This story will serve as the return of Spider-Man 2099 and Classic Sonic last seen in **_**D-Avengers: Generations**_**. A story ENTIRELY focused on them and their worlds. Meaning no appearance from Modern Sonic, Spider-Man Prime, no one from the "Prime Timeline". **

**As you just read, the world of 2099 was also affected by the Convergence/Genesis Wave originated from the story, **_**D-Avengers: Exo War**_**,****and merged it with a future version of the RWBY timeline and Silver the Hedgehog's timeline, albeit 100 years earlier. Confused? It's simple. Spider-Man 2099 lives in the year, well, "2099". Silver lives in the year "2199". It's been implied in earlier stories Miguel and Silver know each other because of off-screen time travel adventures. Will we see Silver in this story? No. Just wanted to let you all know about that little tidbit. And some of you may be wondering, "How did Doc Ock 2099 escaped the white space from Generations?" That will be answered soon, but the answer should probably be obvious.**

**Note: The Phantom Ruby Saga, beginning with _Cyber Metal Madness_, serve as "celebration stories" for Spider-Man's upcoming 57****th**** anniversary. Amazing Fantasy Vol. 1 #15 (Spider-Man's first appearance in the comics) was released on August 10, 1962.**

**BGM End**


	2. Issue 1: By the Mania, for the Mania

_Issue 1: By the Mania, for the Mania_

**Babylon Towers, Nueva Vale**

Several flying cars pass by the Babylon Towers, a division of Alchemax that serves as an apartment complex. At the top floor of the building lives the man who has taken up the legacy of a legendary hero from the Heroic Age. Miguel O'Hara. The Spider-Man of the year 2099. As a civilian, he is a skilled geneticist that works for Alchemax. As a superhero, he is forever the shock in the butt for Alchemax and its boss, Tyler Stone, who is also Miguel's biological father.

Miguel is in his civilian clothes looking out the window, watching cars fly by through a peaceful afternoon that doesn't need a hero for the time being. While distracted with the peacefulness of the city, his personal A.I. forms behind him in his apartment, simply in the form of a beautiful holographic woman wearing a dress called Lyla.

"_Miguel. Gabriel is here to see you." _Lyla told him.

"Let him in." Miguel kindly said.

A moment later, Miguel's younger half-brother walks in to greet his brother, Gabriel O'Hara. Like his older brother, Gabriel is a genius. A remarkable hacker and a lover of cyberspace, "Hey, Miggy. Thought I come to visit. How's my favorite superhero brother doing these past few days?" Gabriel asked, obviously aware of his brother's superhero antics as the future wall-crawler.

Miguel smiles upon meeting his brother, "The usual. Trying to get a hang of this superhero thing fighting crime while also being a constant pain in the butt for Alchemax."

"Have you also gotten used to the new world order?" Gabriel joked, referring to their now-merged world.

Miguel shamelessly rubs the back of his head, "That too. It's already been months since the 'Great Merge' that fused our universe with two others, thanks to whatever happened in the Heroic Age. Now we're stuck like this."

"I know. I'm still having a hard time processing what the shock happened back then. It was just an ordinary day when the space-time continuum suddenly vanished in a bright light, then a few moments later we found ourselves hanging out with 'Mobians' and 'Faunus' and everything else from the other worlds. I thought it was like that time the entire city was swallowed up by that 'Time Eater' thing you once told me about." Gabriel conversed, still baffled about the Convergence of Worlds.

"That's what I thought at first too, but this was a different cause according to what Silver told me." Miguel replied.

"The psychic hedgehog from the future?" Gabriel remarked, having been told about Silver the Hedgehog before, who is a good friend of Miguel.

Miguel explains to his brother of the fabled 'Exo War', "Yeah. He went back in time to the Heroic Age when the whole mess started. Apparently some 'cosmic gemstones' were the cause, capable of reshaping all reality, which caught the attention of a few BILLION aliens that invaded the planet, and in the end, one of the gems were cracked, so like I said, we're stuck like this."

"It hasn't been all bad. I'm kinda liking this merged world. It's not every day you get to study technology from an _entirely _different universe as easy as buying it online." Gabe grinned, liking their new future.

"And those Huntsmen from Beacon are making my job _slightly _less of a chore when they aren't working for the Public Eye. I think the best thing that came from this is Alchemax. Never have I seen Tyler Stone so angry. The merge completely scrambled Alchemax's workload schedule for quite some time. There might be something to this new future after all." Miguel smiled, always taking pleasure whenever Alchemax's plans to corrupt his world fall in shambles because of outside cosmic interference from the past.

**BGM-Mega Man ZX Advent OST-Dive into Depth (Tunes Ver.)**

A knock on the window caught the brothers' attention. They turned to whoever knocked and discovered it was from the surprising appearance of Silver the Hedgehog hovering thanks to his psychic powers calling for Miguel, "Hey, Miguel! Can I come in please?"

"Isn't this the shock of the century. It's Silver. Lyla, open the window for him." Miguel request.

"_Of course. Welcome back to the year 2099, Silver." _Lyla greeted the silver hedgehog after opening the door for him.

"Hiya, Lyla. You too, Gabriel." Silver smiled, greeting his old friends.

"Hi, Silv." Gabe replied.

"Long time no see, Silver. What brings you back to this time period? Is this a visit or did something happen in your future?" Miguel asked the psychic hedgehog that comes from a century later.

Silver's face drops to a frown and worry, "Unfortunately. My world and your future is in danger, and it's all because of Alchemax." He informed the surprised O'Hara brothers of this sudden news the future is in danger.

"Alchemax?!" Gabe remarked in quite a shock while Miguel remained calm and serious on the matter.

"Who else would be a danger to the world? Figured they were up to something. What happened?" Miguel asked his hedgehog friend about the upcoming danger.

"Alchemax has been developing some new 'limitless energy source' that was going to expand the company worldwide and take full control of society and become ALL-powerful. But someone stole their device and put my world in ruins." Silver explained what is happening in the future.

"A limitless energy source? I have been hearing rumors lately Tyler Stone is the head of a new top-secret project he doesn't want anyone to know about and it'll bring Alchemax back on top. This must be it." Miguel pondered, recalling rumors about this secret project.

"That's why I came to you. You work for Alchemax. You know them better than anyone." Silver replied.

"You shockin' right I do. They've been causing me a lot of trouble, and I don't want their evil to spread for another century. Let's go investigate and put a stop to their plans." Miguel said, putting on his Spider-Man costume: a futuristic suit made of Unstable Molecule Fabric that has the classic blue and red color scheme, but uses them in a much different fashion as the original suit. The suit is predominantly blue, but with red highlights, including a large red spider partially resembling a skull as its chest insignia. The suit doesn't have visible eye lenses and instead has red highlights on the mask to indicate where the eyes are. The suit also features red spikes on each of the arms and wears a wrist device that has Lyla downloaded in.

Silver smiled, happy and pumped to save his future from Alchemax, "Great! We should head out now! This is the date when the theft begins!"

Miguel puts on his mask as he speaks to his brother, "Gabe, hold the fort until I get back while we save the future."

"Sure thing. Good luck, bro." Gabe nodded, wishing his brother the best.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Mega Man X4 OST-Sky Lagoon (X)**

"Time for Spider-Man to get to work!" Spider-Man 2099 jumps out of his window into busy skies of Nueva Vale. The future spider enters a free-fall position, sprouting out his web-like cape to glide pass the traffic before spinning out a webline to swing on. Silver catches up using his ESP powers to fly next to Miguel as they approach their destination.

"So do you know where Alchemax might be keeping this new power?" Silver asked the web-slinging hero.

"If this weapon is as dangerous as you say it is, probably in one of the hidden Virtual Unreality labs beneath the Alchemax Building." Miguel replied.

As they approached the Alchemax building, an explosion went off from within the building, causing people to scream their lungs out while the Public Eye tries to get everything in order. "Sounds like the party's getting started! Let's go crash it!" Miguel said.

"Yeah!" Silver agreed, determined to stop the robbers and save the future.

Spider-Man lands behind a small group of Public Eye officers, spotting the masked vigilante and already has their weapons aimed on him, "It's Spider-Man! He must be with those other costumed freaks!" An officer said, blaming Spider-Man for this attack on Alchemax and commands his men to start shooting at him and Silver.

"For guys called the Public Eye, you sure are blind not knowing who's good or evil!" Miguel joked, using his superhuman speed to move so fast he leaves an 'Accelerated decoy', a body double to trick his enemies to attack while dishes out his own counterattack. He webs up the guards to quickly slide-kick towards and knock them back, bouncing off one of them over another officer and pin him down with a web-slam. "C'mon! Is that the best you guys can do?!" He taunted the officers, using his retractable fingertip talons to strike down his foes without hesitation.

With Silver, the psychic hedgehog uses his powers to telekinetically push a squadron forward in a ruined entrance hallway of the building with the walls and floors in flames, people trapped behind rubble, and corrupt officers still trying to figure out all this chaos, "Whoever's attacking Alchemax must REALLY want to steal their new weapon. I can't allow them to escape with it! WHOA!" Silver shouted, after almost getting shot at by more Public Eye goons.

"Stop! You are under arrest!" An officer told Silver, shooting at the hovering hedgehog flying over them.

"You guys are as corrupt as ever! I'm trying to save your world!" Silver psychically takes away their guns and throws them forcefully back at them. Alchemax sends out its security robots to deal with the intruder by firing energy blasts at him. Silver puts up a psychic barrier to block their attacks, and when the moment revealed itself, he converted the barrier into a psychic energy blade to throw and slice the robots into two before exploding.

"Silver! We gotta help the people trapped underneath the rubble!" Miguel told him while kicking down PE goons.

"On it!" Silver uses his powers to lift up the debris trapping multiple workers and scientists who didn't ask for trouble. Spider-Man did the same, using his incredible strength lift large amounts of rubble to save a female scientist.

"Are you okay?" Miguel asked the scientist.

"I'm fine. Thank you, Spider-Man! The villains that attacked the building are headed for one of our underground labs. You got to hurry and stop them!" The scientist urgently requested.

"We will! Get to a safe place!" Miguel ordered the woman to run as Silver finished rescuing everyone else that needed saving. The heroes turn to a giant hole that was originally an elevator shaft that leads deep underground.

"Did a bulldozer go through here?" Silver questioned, a bit amazed and a little worried about that giant hole.

"Looks to be a trail. Let's follow it to the lab!" Spidey suggested.

Spider-Man and Silver fall through the large, complex elevator shaft that goes down for miles. As they fall closer into a secret area they aren't allowed to enter, they noticed several trap doors were already destroyed as they fall through but some bombs and other laser traps were left behind to slow down the heroes. "Alchemax needs to upgrade their security! This stuff has never been able to stop me!" Miguel mocked, free-falling past the traps with some help from Silver's ESP.

Soon enough, they dropped down to the Virtual Unreality lab unscathed. The same can't be said for the ruined corridor to the lab thanks to their mysterious villains. "This area has been compromised. Look at the damage. Who could be causing this destruction?" Silver asked, fighting more security guards in the meantime.

"You're the one from the future. Let's hurry and take care of this group and get some answers." Spidey said, talon-striking his foes back and webs them to the walls.

Silver is already battling against a Public Eye officer in heavy battle-armor that can take a beating, even from the hedgehog's thrown objects using his telekinesis. Spider-Man web-strikes to the head and flips on top of him, clinging to him as he proceeds to beat his fist down on the armored head. The heavy-armored officer grabs and throws Miguel off his back, prompting Silver to utilize another approach.

"Got an idea!" Silver concentrates his power at the chest area of the enemy's armor, cracking it and slowly ripping it apart just enough to reveal the shocked man piloting the armor.

"That's my que!" Miguel shoots a webline at the revealed officer and yanks him to his fist, swinging him back smashing through his armor, knocking him out and destroying the battlesuit.

"Area's clear. Now let's find out what's all the hubbub's all about." Spider-Man said.

**BGM End**

Spider-Man and Silver rush into the main laboratory chamber to find out what's all the commotion about. Upon entering the broken doors, they find their answer. The mysterious magenta ruby floating ominously in its own holo-dome in the center of the chamber.

"That gem. I never seen anything like that before. Is that what it's all about?" Miguel asked his time-traveling hedgehog.

"I think so. I never seen it for myself. All I know is Alchemax created something big that could devastate the planet. Didn't think it was as small as a Chaos Emerald." Silver remarked.

"Lyla, what can you make of this?" Miguel asked the A.I. in his comm device.

'_There are no records of a gem like this in history. It's emitting a lot of power that could put our very reality at risk.' _Lyla replied.

Before either hero could remark what the lady AI told them, a familiar businessman and his Public Eye security squad approach them from the side, "Spider-Man! What are you doing here?! This area is OFF-LIMITS to your kind!" Tyler Stone scowled to the number one hated enemy of Alchemax.

"Stone! What are you scheming this time?! What is this gem?! Who are the people attacking Alchemax for it that'll put the WHOLE WORLD in danger?!" Spider-Man asked his father, who doesn't know Miguel is Spider-Man or he is his son.

"I have everything _under _control! I have no time for your meddling!" Stone retorts, acting as arrogant as every evil CEO of a mega-corporation.

Just when Miguel wanted to give an earful to his evil dad, his Accelerated Vision starts acting up, _'My Accelerated Vision is picking up some kind of danger. What-?' _He turns to see multiple pumpkin bombs thrown on the area, scattering several officers and attacking the dome that secures the Ruby.

**BGM-Spider-Man Unlimited Game OST-Gameplay 2099**

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" That familiar crazed laughter could only belong to the successor of the Heroic Age Spider-Man's greatest enemy, the Goblin. Goblin 2099 swoops into the chamber throwing pumpkin bombs to destroy more of the lab while easily avoiding the blasts from the pathetic Public Eye.

Miguel glares at his costumed nemesis, "Goblin. The only one crazy enough to attack a high-tech Alchemax facility during the day."

"Hello there, Spider-Man. Long time no see. Did you miss me?" Goblin 2099 playfully asks his archnemesis.

"Not really. Was kinda hoping you got lost in the space-time continuum during the Merge." Miguel quipped.

"You can't get rid of the Goblin that easily." Goblin remarks with a creepy smile.

"What do you want now, you rabble-rousing lunatic?" Miguel asked about his new plan.

Goblin continues smiling, hovering next to the Ruby, "You see it for yourself, do you? It's the result of Project Valtron. The Ruby that will grant me the power to take over this world and remake it as I see fit!"

"I'm not letting that kind of power fall in your insane, greedy hands!" Before Miguel launches a webline at the Goblin, someone powerful tackles him past Silver and slams his neck pinned to a wall.

"Spider-Man!" Silver remarked.

Miguel grunts as he feels a large alien tongue licking his mask. He opens his eyes to the alien symbiote that has him pinned. The 2099 version of the monster known as Venom sporting a more flame-looking demonic white mask that surrounds the red portion around the pupilless eyes. "Kron?!" Miguel remarked while struggling to break free from his insane parental half-brother bonded with an evil symbiote.

"_**It's VENOM. Try to remember that, little brother, as I introduce you to some of my new friends." **_Venom 2099 lowly said to his brother so no one else could hear about their sibling relationship, including their father who is still in the lab.

Silver was able to free Miguel from Venom's grasp with his ESP before getting bolted sliding on the ground by Electro 2099, the sentient android with shockingly powerful electricity powers. "Electro?!" Miguel remarks to Electro's sudden appearance in the lab along with Venom and Goblin, and there's still more coming. Miguel almost got blasted by an energy shot from Silvermane 2099's morphing arm buster, an old adversary of the original Spider-Man that still remains in the future because of his cyborg body that's given him life eternal. "Silvermane?!" Coming right after Silvermane is Vulture 2099, a villainous cannibal with a wing harness to fly and claws to strike Spider-Man to a wall. "Vulture too?!" And last but not least is another powerful robot, a tall one shaped like a rhino that rampages through the wall Spider-Man was knocked to as he jumps over its pointy horn, "And a giant rhino bot. That's new."

"**Just call me the Rhino." **Rhino 2099 introduces himself to his new hated enemy.

"Why are all these villains together?" Silver asked, wondering about this worrisome team-up.

Goblin hovers coolly before his new villainous team consisting of Venom, Electro, Silvermane, Vulture, and Rhino, with Goblin himself as leader, "Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Let me be the first to introduce you to…the SINISTER SIX!" He introduced to his enemies the revival of a new Sinister Six in the year 2099, the Sinister Six 2099.

"Sinister Six? You reviving that ol' group?" Miguel quipped, knowing the history about many incarnations of the Sinister Six of the past and their past exploits.

"That's right. And I'm sure you're already aware of the Six's ONE and only goal: Killing Spider-Man." Goblin said rather sinisterly it shivers the bone.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions OST- VS. Hobgoblin – Unfriendly Skies**

"GET THEM!" Goblin orders his Sinister Six to attack Spider-Man and Silver.

"These must be the guys that ruined the future!" Silver remarks while contending with Vulture and Electro.

"Couldn't tell me earlier it was six of my worst enemies behind all this?!" Miguel remarks while dodging the fierce attacks from Rhino, Venom and Silvermane.

"I was in a hurry and didn't have much time!" Silver blocks an electric bolt from Electro but was unable to avoid getting clawed to the back by Vulture.

"You're a time traveler for crying out loud!" Spider-Man web-yanks Silvermane to a flip-kick to the air but then gets ruthlessly tackled by Rhino and barely manages to avoid the tendril swipes from Venom.

Goblin flies over more of the Public Eye's pathetic excuse of gunfire and throws a pumpkin bombs for their measly efforts that forces Tyler Stone to hide in a safe area from the chaos, "Keep them busy, boys, while I free our prize! With the power of the Ruby, we will tear this world APART! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Goblin laughed, descending to the controls to open the barrier that protects the Ruby.

"Oh no you don't! I'm not letting you have that gem!" Miguel manages to bounce off Venom's head and zips to Goblin at the controls. He slams the madman's head to the controls, which was probably a bad idea, further emphasized when Goblin slammed Miguel's head to the control, causing some problems with the Ruby as it begins to glow oddly.

"Stop, you fools! You're going to ruin everything!" Stone shouted at the costumed morons ruining his experiment.

**BGM End**

Goblin chuckles as he has Miguel pinned by the neck to the damaged controls and prepares to kill him, but was stopped when he notices the Ruby acting very strangely, "What?"

The Ruby makes this mysterious odd sound effect caused by the destruction to the lab messing with its power. From the Ruby opens a large purple rift warping the very fabric of space-time itself and proceeds to suck everything in the lab. "What's happening?!" Goblin asked, surprised by the Ruby's power. The vacuum effect from the rift is so strong it starts to suck up the likes of Vulture. Then Electro. Then Silvermane. Then Venom. Then Rhino. One by one, members of the Sinister Six 2099 get sucked into the rift.

Silver is doing his best to escape the wrath of the rift, as so is Stone, Goblin, and Spider-Man. Soon, the rift starts to vacuum up Goblin and Spider-Man as well, but Spider-Man was able to fire a webline onto the ground to keep himself from getting sucked in with some extra assistance from Silver, who's using his psychic powers to save Spider-Man until the portal closes in on itself.

"I got you!" Silver struggled, using all his strength to make sure Spider-Man doesn't get swallowed by the portal.

Goblin screams as his wings aren't helping in the slightest to escape the portal's wrath. But before he gets sucked into the great void, he has one last declaration to say, "If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me, Spider-Man!" Goblin throws one last bomb at Silver, causing him to lose his grip on Spider-Man as the webline also snaps.

"WHOOOOOOOOOOA!" Spider-Man screamed as he was the last one to get sucked into the rift after Goblin.

"SPIDER-MAN!" Silver shouted, but before he could save him, the portal was closed and the Ruby disappeared with Spider-Man and the Sinister Six, wherever they may be across time and space.

Having no idea what to do next and heavily concerned about Spider-Man's safety, Silver had no other choice but to escape the facility before he could get arrested by the Public Eye. "Sir, are you alright?" A PE officer helps his boss up to his feet after that disaster.

Stone grunts, "I'm fine. I need to contact Patel and tell her my little Ruby has gone missing and I want HER to find it, wherever it may be." He said, having a very good feeling the Ruby is not destroyed, and it sickens his heart that Spider-Man could very possibly be still alive. It's just a matter of where he is across time and space.

* * *

**Knothole Village, Classic Sonic's World**

**BGM-Sonic Mania Adventures OST-Discovery**

In an entirely new dimension set in the recent past over a century ago lies a village hidden deep within a "wood zone" on an island ruled by a "Kingdom of Acorn". Here, a familiar blue hedgehog relaxes next to a tree. A young blue hedgehog with light blue fur and a round belly, as well as having black eyes.

The young hedgehog takes in a big breath of the fresh air and slowly lets it out with his hands comfortably placed behind his head on the tree, _'I'm loving this. As much as I like adventure, I like kicking back afterwards, too.' _He thought to himself.

"HEEEEY! SONIIIIIIC!"

Sonic hears the young voice of his two-tailed foxy sidekick calling out his name. Miles Prower, but everyone prefers calling him Tails. Alongside Tails is another friend of Sonic's, Sally Acorn, the young leader of the Freedom Fighters and heir to her father's throne to the Kingdom of Acorn.

"Hey, Tails. Hey, Sal. What brings you from Mobotroplis? Anything happening that requires your favorite hero?" Sonic joked with his friends.

"If there was, I'm sure you'd already be there." Sally quipped, showing him her sly eyes and grin.

"We just came to check on you." Tails said happily to his big bro.

"Thanks guys, but I'm doing fine. Just having a little me-time is what it is. Nothing to worry about." Sonic replies, going back to his relaxing position on the tree.

**BGM End**

As the three friends gather together, Tails notices something very odd appearing in the sky, "Sonic, what's that?!"

"Huh?" Sonic looks up and could barely see a strange portal opening above. Soon dropping down from the portal is a strange man in what appears to be dressed in a spider costume, dropping down at high velocity while unconscious onto Sonic's direction below. "Wuh-oh!" Quickly, Sonic jumped out of the way before the man could've crashed onto him, "That was close."

"Who is this person, and why did he dropped out of that portal?" Sally asked, wanting to know the identity of this strange falling man.

Sonic and Tails, however, seem to recognize this person clearly. "Sonic! Isn't that…?" The surprised Tails points to the unconscious man.

Sonic nods to what his friend is saying as he clearly recognizes his friend, "Why did he show up like that?"

"Do you two know who this guy is?" Sally asked the duo.

"He's the one we told you about. Let's head back to Mobotroplis. Spider-Man needs our help." Sonic told Sally while looking down at the unconscious Spider-Man 2099, his old friend from the future.

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: That was Issue 1 of Mania Mayhem. We're reunited with Miguel O'Hara and are introduced to his brother, Gabriel O'Hara. Like I said at the end of last chapter, Silver is from 100 years later after Miguel's time but occasionally travels to his time whenever trouble might endanger both their times. We're introduced to the Sinister Six 2099. We'll definitely see more of them as their some of the main baddies for this story. And a cameo of Classic Sally.**

**Next time: Past hedgehog and future spider reunite! Trouble at Angel Island!**

**Question of the Chapter: What are your opinions on Spider-Man 2099 and how do you rank him in your "Favorite Spider-Man" list?**

**BGM End**


	3. Issue 2: A Disturbance on Angel Island

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Spider-Man 2099: The name's Miguel O'Hara. I'm the Spider-Man of the Year 2099. Just another typical day stopping an Alchemax plot. Silver came from the future warning me they were creating a new power source that could devastate the planet. Some sort of ruby gemstone. We went to stop them, but just my luck, things didn't go as planned. Goblin returned and revived the Sinister Six under his maniacal leadership and was going to steal the Ruby for world domination, but during the fight, it activated on its own and sent me and the Six somewhere across space and time. This is gonna be a **_**long **_**day.**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Issue 2: A Disturbance on Angel Island_

**Unknown Evil Base**

**BGM-Sonic X OST-Eggman**

On an unnamed reclusive island out in sea is a large, egg-shaped building with menacing-looking red eyes where a particular scientist spends his day sleeping in his pajamas. That scientist is called Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but no one ever calls him that and prefer insulting with the name, "Dr. Eggman", self-proclaim evil genius and Sonic's arch-nemesis. Eggman is too deep loving his beauty sleep that he ignores the urgent video call he's getting from his computer. The undisturbed doctor mumbles in his sleep, turning left and right as he continues sleeping through the ringing from his computer. It wasn't until one of his Badniks, an Eggrobo resembling the doctor, walks over to his master's bed and pokes the groggy doctor awake.

"Huh…" Eggman gives out a groggy yawn while rubbing his sleepy eyes, "Why did you wake me up so early in the morning? I should dismantle you." He threatened sleepily. The silent Eggrobo points to the clock showing him it's 3:14 PM, "It's the afternoon already? I'm sure that clock is busted."

Now wide awake, Eggman can finally hear the loud ringing from his computer as someone very important wants to talk to him, "Who in the right mind would be calling me? Is it Snively? I thought I kicked him out and he went back to GUN. It better not be another prank caller. I was so looking forward to that pizza." He whined as he puts on his classic clothing.

Fully dressed, Eggman walks over to the computer and finally answers the mysterious video caller, but to his surprise and great shock, it wasn't someone from his world, but someone calling from an entirely different dimension, and that person happens to be his old acquaintance in evil, Dr. Serena Patel, the Doctor Octopus of 2099.

'_Finally. You know it's rude ignoring the call of a woman, Dr. Eggman.' _Patel greeted her old ally from another dimension.

"GAAH! Dr. Patel?! How are you calling me?! I haven't seen you since the time we escaped from that timeless prison?!" Eggman remarked, obviously caught off-guard by Patel's sudden surprise call.

'_Yes, thanks to the Genesis Wave from my dimension that originated a century ago, but that's not important.' _Patel replied, confirming it was Merging Genesis Wave that somehow freed this Eggman and Patel from the White Space they were trapped for weeks.

"What's a Genesis Wave? That sounds like something I would make up." The confused Eggman asked ironically, since he was the mastermind behind Genesis Waves, just a version of him from the future.

'_Forget about that. I request your assistance on a more urgent troubling problem.' _Patel replied.

"What is this problem that requires you using an interdimensional communication device to call me while I was asleep?" Eggman asked, a bit rudely.

Patel explains the problem to her confused co-hort, _'I was in charge of a new project here in Alchemax called "Project Valtron" to create a limitless energy source that would basically help us control the world, but my enemy, Spider-Man, and a few other costumed nuisances interrupted my work and caused my creation to go "haywire", tearing a hole in the space-time continuum and sending them and my precious work out of my dimension. My boss ordered me to find it for him, so I traced its energy signature and pinpointed it somewhere in your dimension.'_

"Sounds interesting. Are you able transmit the notes of your little project through dimensions?" Eggman asked, wanting to learn more about this project if he wants to help.

'_I'm the smartest woman in the Year 2099. There's nothing I can't do.' _Patel replied egotistically, as she's already sending the needed files through dimensions to Eggman.

Eggman looks over the details about 'Project Valtron', that the creation is a magenta ruby and what it's capable of. He smiles sinisterly and chuckles, "Oh-ho-HO! Remarkable! Alchemax continues to impress me. You've certainly outdone yourself this time, Patel. It's energy readings are ASTONISHING! The power to augment reality AND manipulate space-time? It's the perfect tool for world domination! What do you call this beauty of a gem?"

'_Valtron.' _Patel answered, kinda disappointing Eggman with its name.

"Valtron? That's the name you would give a giant robot or something similar. Considering the gem's abilities, why not call it…the PHANTOM RUBY?" Eggman snapped his fingers after giving a thought on the new name for the Ruby.

'_Hmm. It does have a nice ring to it. Anyway, I want you to help me secure the gem. Perhaps with its powers, we can use it to accomplish both our goals.' _Patel propose another team up between the two, in hopes of using the Phantom Ruby to rule both their respective worlds.

"Oh YES! Once we secure the Phantom Ruby, nothing can stop Alchemax and the Eggman Empire from ruling BOTH dimensions! Hallelujah!" Eggman exclaimed. At the same time, his computers picked up a mysterious energy source that appeared in his world on some 'floating island', "And would you look at that! I think I just found your missing Ruby on Angel Island! I had a few setbacks there recently, but this is the perfect time to call in my new robot squadron! Hard Boiled Heavies, COME FORTH!"

Flying into his lab is Eggman's new elite team of badniks capable of handling the hardest missions, the Hard Boiled Heavies, which, unremarkably, consist of five ordinary Egg-Robos. _'They're just ordinary Egg-Robos. I don't see what's so special about them? Why not send that "Metal Sonic" you told me about?' _Patel insulted, finding nothing interesting of five ordinary Egg-Robos that could be destroyed with a simple Spin-Attack.

"He's still stuck on Little Planet. I should probably fix that. This is the best I got for now! Maybe with the next robot line I'll give them cooler looks and name them after the Greek alphabet!" Eggman retorts, turning to confront his Heavies with their newest assignment and dispatch them shortly afterward, "Alright, Heavies, listen up! You're to be dispatched to Angel Island IMMEDIATELY and retrieve the Phantom Ruby for me! No interruptions! Destroy ANYONE that gets in your way, whether it be a gullible echidna, an itsy bitsy spider, or a VERY annoying tiny hedgehog!"

**BGM End**

* * *

**Mobotroplis, Royal Hills Zone**

**BGM-Mega Man ZX Advent OST-Relief (Tunes Ver.)**

Meanwhile at the capital city of the Kingdom of Acorn, Mobotropolis, there's built a large castle that belongs to its ruler, King Acorn. Sitting inside a nursing room in the castle is Rosie Woodchuck, a brown Mobian woodchuck with white hair, round ears and buck teeth and wears a blue dress with gold/yellow linings along with white gloves. Rosie serves as the loving caretaker and tutor to Princess Sally. She happily sits on a chair occupying herself to her knitting, sitting next to an unconscious Miguel O'Hara sleeping on a bed without his costume, after he unexpectedly crashed into Knothole earlier and have been under Rosie's care nursing him back to health.

While knitting another of the princess's dresses, Rosie notices Miguel starting to stir as he slowly wakes up, "Oh good, you're waking up. How are you feeling?" She asked the 2099 hero.

Instantly, Miguel springs from his bed wondering where in the world did he end up, "What the shock?! Where am I? Who are you?! Where's my costume?!" He asked frantically.

"Calm down. You're inside the House of Acorn at Mobotropolis where it's safe. My name is Rosie Woodchuck and I've been the one nursing you back to health." Rosie introduces herself to the confused futurist, then showing him his neatly folded costume on a table next to her, "I made sure to clean your clothing while you were out. I say, I never seen anything like it. It's almost something made from the future." She commented about Miguel's futuristic hero costume.

"Ummm…" Miguel says, not wanting to confirm he is from the future. He doesn't really know what to say since he has no idea where in time or space he ended up after getting sucked into the Phantom Ruby's portal.

"The only ones I could think are capable of creating something so advanced would probably be Sir Charles or Dr. Eggman." Rosie said, still commenting about Miguel's costume.

"Doctor…Eggman?" Miguel remarked, getting a small hint where he might've ended up.

Someone knocks on the door outside the room, prompting Rosie to call out, "Come in!"

Opening the door is the young Princess Sally herself and her friends Sonic and Tails, shocking Miguel with their presence. "Hi, Rosie!" Sally greeted her nanny.

"Hey, Miguel. Long time no see! Nice to see you're okay!" Sonic greeted his future friend with a smile.

"You're Sonic. The younger one, from the past. Or I guess since that mess with the Time Eater, you exist in your 'own timeline', separate from the original timeline according to multiverse theory." Miguel remarked, trying to say all the time-traveling they did in the past during the Time Eater incident, while it did fix time, it also somehow separated and created an alternate reality for Classic Sonic to live in. So basically, Classic Sonic now lives in his own dimension/timeline separate from Modern Sonic's timeline.

Sonic shrugs from all this talk about time travel, "I still don't understand how 'time travel' works or 'multiverse theory' and junk. It was much simpler when I ran past a timepost at 88 miles per hour. So what brings you back from the future, Miguel?"

"STOP saying my secret identity _out-loud_! It's a secret for a reason!" Miguel scowled, annoyed with the blue hedgehog for casually saying his secret identity to those like Sally and Rosie who didn't know his real name until now.

"No need to worry. You can trust Sally and Rosie to not say anything." Sonic grinned.

"We promise not to tell anyone else your secret, Mr. O'Hara." Sally politely bowed to her futuristic guest.

"So what brings you to our world, Miguel? Did something happen? We saw you fall down from a weird portal floating in the sky." Tails asked, wanting to know what's going on just like everyone else.

"Portal…?" Miguel thinks back to what happened to him earlier that sent him to Classic Sonic's world before losing consciousness. A second later, he fully remembers, "Now I remember! I was at Alchemax stopping a bunch of supervillain nutjobs from stealing a mysterious ruby they were working on, which apparently has the power to warp time and space and sent me here. And if I survived and was sent here, then that means Goblin and his Sinister Six must be here too."

"What's this 'ruby' you're talking about? Is it your world's version of a 'Chaos Emerald' or 'Time Stone'?" Sonic asked, clueless about the events happening in Miguel's world.

"No. Frantically, I don't know much about it myself except Alchemax created it, and according to Silver, it's the keystone that ruins the future. My future." Miguel replied calmly, shocking the four Mobians with this worrisome news.

"Oh my! The future?!" Rosie remarked, horrified.

"This gem is REALLY that powerful?" Sally questioned the future spider.

"Apparently. And if this gem can warp time and space, then ALL of our futures are in danger if it rolls into the wrong hands like your Eggman or the Sinister Six!" Miguel replied, saying their dimensions are in trouble because of the Phantom Ruby.

"That would be a bother." Sonic remarked casually, acting calm and confident as he believes this is something he can handle.

"That would be a DISASTER! We have to find this Ruby quick!" Sally suggested.

"Can I please use Nicole for a minute, Sally?" Tails request the use of her handheld that houses a sentient computer AI called Nicole, a good friend to the Freedom Fighters.

"Sure, Tails," Sally kindly hands the young fox the usage of her handheld.

"Thanks, Sally. Nicole, have you picked up any odd energy readings recently?" Tails asked the AI.

'_Just a moment, Tails. Let me show you what I found.' _Nicole responded, showing the genius fox the powerful energy readings that might be related to the Phantom Ruby.

"Whoa! This is incredible! It's not a Chaos Emerald, but this energy signature I'm picking up is 'remarkably powerful'! It must be that Ruby you talked about!" Tails remarked, amazed by the power of the Ruby.

"Do you know where it is?" Miguel asked while putting on his costume.

"If I'm reading this right, there looks to have been a dimensional breach that recently occurred in the atmosphere over Angel Island. That must be where the Ruby is!" Tails answered, informing his friends of the Ruby's location.

"Angel Island, huh? Haven't been there in a while." Sonic grinned as it was location of his latest big adventure stopping another of Eggman's plans and destroying his precious Death Egg.

"If we located this Ruby, then no doubt Eggman has too and is headed there to retrieve it! I'm calling in the rest of the Freedom Fighters." Sally said, wanting to call the rest of the team to retrieve the Phantom Ruby first.

"No need. Me and Tails got this." Sonic denied the assistance from the other Freedom Fighters, baffling Sally with his arrogant plan.

"What?! Why?! We're dealing with a power that threatens our very future!" Sally argued, angry at the arrogant hedgehog for always wanting to make things harder if it means more fun.

"We'll be fine. Really. What's to worry about? That's rhetorical by the way. Besides, me and Tails been to Angel Island before. We know our way around. We can't fit everyone on the Tornado, and Knuckles still not fond of visitors crashing his home." Sonic gave his argument why it should be just him and Tails for this mission, which sounds reasonable enough to the eye-rolling princess.

"I'm going too." Miguel spoke up, now fully dressed in his Spider-Man costume once again. "This mess started in my dimension, meaning it and the Six are my responsibility if they got sent here and are still looking for it."

"No problem. C'mon, S-Man! Let's show you how we past people fly around the world in style!" Sonic revs up a figure-eight with his feet, teaming up with Tails and Spider-Man 2099 to locate the Phantom Ruby before Eggman or the Sinister Six does.

**BGM End**

* * *

**Approaching Angel Island…**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Angel Island Zone**

Sonic and Miguel stand tall and vigilant on the classic flying plane that is the Tornado, piloted by Tails wearing a pilot mask to protect himself from the breezing winds they're flying towards above the clean ocean towards Angel Island.

"I don't want to sound insulting, but this plane is so…ancient." Miguel comments his below-average opinions about the Tornado, which is totally understandable considering he's from the future.

"It's alright. You're from the future after all. There must be flying cars and hoverboards faster than the Tornado." Tails grinned, not at all hurt by the "ancient" comment.

"I doubt anything built from the future is faster than me." Sonic stroked his own ego once again.

"So what's this Angel Island?" Miguel asked, wanting to know a little history about their destination.

Sonic gives him the history lesson, "A floating island in the sky thanks to its Master Emerald. Me and Tails visited the place not too long ago when Eggman's Death Egg crash-landed on it and tricked its guardian, Knuckles, into fighting us. We managed to beat some sense into that knucklehead that Eggman was the real big bad and stopped him from stealing the Master Emerald. I wonder if he'll allow us to explore his floating rock for this Ruby of yours?"

"He better, 'cause it looks like something happened to his island. You said it's a floating island, right? It doesn't look to be floating anymore." Miguel was the first to notice far ahead, thanks to his Accelerated Vision, that Angel Island is down on the ocean's surface, worrying the mobians.

"Wha-?! Angel Island's back on the ocean?! Don't tell me the Master Emerald was stolen again?!" Sonic remarked.

"No, that's not it! It must be the Ruby's power that's keeping the island grounded on the ocean!" Tails scanned the Ruby's energy affecting Angel Island with his plane's scanners.

"A gem that can counteract the Master Emerald's power, which is basically seven Chaos Emeralds wrapped in one? Okay. This might be a bit _more _of a bother than I first thought." Sonic admitted underestimating the Phantom Ruby's power.

"All the more reason to get that Ruby before it causes more trouble for the environment, or at worst, break the space-time continuum." Miguel said, more determined now to retrieve the Ruby.

"Greaaaat. No pressure or anything." Sonic said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Tails carefully lands the Tornado at a safe clear spot on the island's coast before the team hops off to begin their search for the Phantom Ruby. They follow Lyla's directions through a thick, tropical jungle with palm trees, breakable rocks, swinging vines and plenty of foliage as far as the eye can see.

"This place hasn't changed one bit. How close are we to the Ruby, holo-girl?" Sonic asked the 2099 AI.

'_Just a few more feet, but I'm also detecting some activity surrounding its location.' _Lyla answered.

"Is it Knuckles?" Sonic asked her.

'_No. It's something else. Five energy readings, and neither of them seem to be the Sinister Six.' _Lyla replied, making them wonder who or what could be after the Phantom Ruby.

"Then what?" Miguel asked.

Tails seems to know as he urgently points his finger ahead and shouts, "Badniks!"

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Hard Boiled Heavies Mischief Theme**

The heroes look ahead to see Eggman's new elite robot team, the Hard Boiled Heavies are here and hard at work excavating the mysterious gemstone with a large claw descending down from their ship in the sky.

"Egg-Robos! We knew Eggman was after the Ruby!" Sonic scowled at the sight his nemesis is at it again.

"And his robots have already found it. Jamnit!" Miguel cursed with 2099 profanity.

The HBH use their ship's claw to excavate the Phantom Ruby from the ground it was stuck in after it was transported into Classic Sonic's world. "Don't let them get away with that Ruby!" Miguel ordered, rushing his team to grab the Ruby from the HBH.

**BGM End**

As the heroes are about to attack, the "leader" of the Heavies, which is still a regular-looking Egg-Robo, oddly gets drawn to the Phantom Ruby, gazing into its mysterious luster almost like it's trying to talk to the robot, goading him to touch it. The Egg-Robo then gently pokes the gem, causing it to activate its power once more. That same mysterious sound emits from the Ruby as it surrounds the area in a space-time field, altering the environment's colors and the Heavies with an inverse look.

"What's going on?!" Sonic asked after the gang immediately halted their attack when enveloped in this weird energy field.

"We've been caught in a space-time field!" Miguel remarked.

Everything caught in the space-time field starts to look wobbly, rippling as the heroes are unexpectedly floating in midair against their will and then bright light emanates from the Ruby that envelops the screaming heroes and the Heavies, "WHOOOOOOA!"

* * *

**Green Hill Zone**

The Phantom Ruby teleported the heroes to the island paradise that is Green Hill Zone, dropping them off on their bellies which really hurt and made them all groggy. "Urgh. Ah great. Did we end up in another dimension like that 'Remnant' world or something?" Miguel asked, standing up to scan his surroundings.

Sonic seems shock as he recognizes where they ended up, "No. We're in…Green Hill Zone? But, that's all the way back at South Island. How did get here so quickly?"

"That space-time field must've transported us here." Miguel deduced easily.

"Our location wasn't the only thing that changed. Look at the Egg-Robos. They…transformed." Tails points to the newly-transformed Hard Boiled Heavies, now rocking some new distinct designs and power: There's the purple knight-themed Heavy Rider, a thrill-seeking robot. The yellow mystic performer, the Heavy Magician. The green robot ninja, the Heavy Shinobi. The blue loose cannon police officer, the Heavy Gunner. And lastly, the king and leader wielding a powerful scepter, the Heavy King.

"The Ruby can enhance machinery?" Miguel remarks, questioning the Phantom Ruby's limits and its other abilities.

"It transformed them into a group of Super-Badniks. Looks like it'll take more than a simple Spin Attack to destroy them." Sonic said, taking a serious position to take on the Heavies.

Enhanced with new abilities from the Phantom Ruby, the transformed Heavies decided to leave the premise with their newly-acquired gem and take off on their ship through Green Hill. "Where do you think you're going with that stone? After them!" Sonic ordered his team, revving up his feet and speeds off chasing the Heavies with Tails and Spider-Man.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Green Hill Zone Act 1**

Sonic takes the lead before his friends, zooming at hypersonic speeds through this classic zone. He grins while rolling down hills and running on multiple loops in his path, then proceeds to take out the upcoming Crabmeat badniks pestering the zone with their presences. Buzz Bombers spot the hedgehog and fire on him, failing to land a single blow on the blue blur before he takes them out in a blink of an eye, hopping down on a Moto Bug and rides it along the zone and force it to crash on another Moto Bug as the hedgehog jumps off it in time freeing the animals trapped inside, "This place hasn't change a bit since the last time I venture through here." Sonic smiled.

"This was the first zone you visited during your first adventure against Eggman after he took over Mobotropolis." Tails flew above Sonic, reminding him of the time Eggman conquered Mobotropolis and Sonic came out of nowhere to save it.

Sonic grins, "And the adventures only gotten better after that. What kind of adventures do you have, Spidey? Besides the ones crossing dimensions and traveling through time?" He asked the future web-slinger.

"I don't have adventures around the world like you. I'm usually in the city stopping bad guys and every other nutcase that wants to give me a headache." Miguel said, zipping to an aerial Buzz Bomber to slash before web-striking down on a Newtron.

"You should get out of the city some more. Follow the wind, like I do." Sonic replies, destroying the jumping Chopper robot fishes beneath a bridge.

"When I'm capable breaking the sound barrier with my feet, I'll think about it." Miguel quipped, web-stomping on a Crabmeat.

**BGM End**

After venturing through the first act of Green Hill, the heroes suddenly found themselves in a cave with a beautiful subterranean lake surrounding them with small rock formations. "Wow. Didn't visit this part of the Green Hill before." Sonic comments of this new unexplored cave system.

"We lost sight of those robots. Let me see if I can still track the Ruby's energy signature." Miguel uses Lyla to trace the Phantom Ruby's energy for directions where to go next, but a familiar sinister chuckle from an "old" foe interrupts him from doing so.

"There is no time for that, little spider."

'_That voice.' _Miguel and his young mobian friends turned to the direction where that voice is coming from, learning it came from none other than the armored cyborg crime boss, Silvermane 2099.

**BGM-Mega Man Star Force OST-Prelude to Battle**

"If you want to get the Ruby, you'll have to get past me first, heroes." Silvermane 2099 confronted his young enemies.

"I remember him. He's that old guy with the robot body." Sonic said, remembering his last encounter with Silvermane during the Time Eater crisis.

"Silvermane. Had a feeling you survived the trip to this dimension." Miguel confronted his old foe, who really is an old man in a cyborg body.

"I survived over two centuries into the year 2099. Surviving a trip to this pitiful world is nothing." Silvermane replied.

"You only survived that long because you're just a disembodied head wearing a cyborg body like it's a new pair of clothes." Miguel joked.

Silvermane chuckles, "A cyborg body that has a new limitless power source that'll keep me alive forever." He says this by surprising the heroes with the white Chaos Emerald he somehow found.

"He has a Chaos Emerald!" Tails noticed in dire shock.

"How did you find that, silver-borg?" Sonic asked, glaring at the cyborg.

"When I got sucked into that portal thanks to the Ruby, I was transported into some weird strange…zone. There were UFOs and blue spheres on a racing track of some kind, but in the end I managed to escape when I won this gem." Silvermane explained, with Sonic having a good idea where he ended up.

"You were sent to a Special Zone. I'm impressed an old man like you was able to complete its challenges." Sonic said, slightly mockingly.

"Do not underestimate me, child. I was a former head figure of the Maggia!" Silvermane retorted.

"Ha! 'Head'." Sonic joked, annoying the head-wearing cyborg crime boss with his interruptions.

Silvermane scowls, "Mock me all you want. It'll only make your defeat more embarrassing once beaten by this 'old man'." The cyborg Maggia inserts the Chaos Emerald into his chest-core, feeling its energy powering him up and granting him power he could only dream of until today.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Mega Man Starforce 3 OST-Wave Battle! Ride On!**

Silvermane uses his enhanced cyborg body to unleash a missile barrage at the dodgy heroes from his backpack missile launcher, "You don't get to live for almost 200 years without learning a thing or two."

"Then I'm about to delete some memory." Spider-Man quipped, rolling away from the missiles and throwing them back with his webbing, damaging Silvermane.

"The Sinister Six will find the other of these 'Chaos Emeralds' and that 'Ruby'. With their power, we can rule this world along with the world of 2099." Silvermane fires energy blasts from his morphing arm cannons at Sonic and Tails.

"We already have an old man trying to conquer this world. Go back to your world and conquer the bingo table at a retirement home!" Sonic quipped, dodging the energy blasts to Spin Attack the evil cyborg multiple times but gets deflected to the air. Luckily, Tails was up there flying to grab him, then is promptly thrown back hard by the fox to seriously damage the crime boss.

Spider-Man blinds the cyborg with webbing before zipping over and striking him repeatedly with his sharp talon, but was soon stopped by Silvermane when he grabbed one of his arms, "The original Spider-Man could never beat me." Silvermane proclaimed.

"Really? That's not what the history cubes say. Some of your memory files must be corrupted." Miguel uses his free arm to punch Silvermane's face, freeing himself from his grasp.

As Silvermane fires his bombs at the heroes, a new Super-Badnik shows up when it detected the energy signature coming from the Chaos Emerald. It's the DD Wrecker, a robotic contraption consisting of two spheres that look like miniature Death Eggs bound together by a metallic chain with a rotatable joint.

"What's this? I think I can use this to my advantage." Silvermane jumps back grabbing the joint of the Wrecker to use as a double-headed wrecking ball.

"He's using that Super-Badnik as a weapon." Tails pointed out.

"Aren't you a little _old _playing with toys?" Sonic cheekily taunted the cyborg, earning him a smack from the swinging Wrecker that literarily knocked the rings out of him.

Spider-Man sees the hedgehog almost knocked into the lake and quickly prevents him from falling with a webline, "Gotcha!" Miguel pulls the annoyed hedgehog to his side. "I have an idea. I'll web up one of those satellites to the ground so you and Tails could finish him off." He said, giving out a plan to his teammates.

"Alright. I can go with that." Sonic agrees to the plan and went to confront Silvermane one more time, "Was that the best you got, metal geezer, or are your shoulder bolts rusting up with your age?" He grinningly taunts the cyborg.

Silvermane growls as he holds onto the glowing orange satellite of the Wrecker and swings the non-glowing one right on Sonic. He keeps missing while the speedy hedgehog keep taunting him with faces, angering him more and more until he decided to slam the satellite right on top of him, but Sonic was still able to roll away from it just in time.

"Now!" Sonic shouts to Miguel to go on with the plan.

"We're taking away your toy! Go play with something more your age, like a double beatdown!" Miguel sprays webbing on the satellite, pinning it down to the ground no matter how much Silvermane struggles to rip it off from the other end. This gave Sonic and Tails the chance to finish him off, hopping onto the chain to charge up a double Spin Dash and rush on it smacking Silvermane while smashing through the other satellite, defeating him and destroying the DD Wrecker.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Act Clear**

"Go back to retirement, old man, and leave the newer generation to get their butts whopped." Sonic taunted the unconscious Silvermane.

"They made leaps in field of cryogenics. That should keep you staying 'a head'." Miguel made a pun that got a little laugh from Sonic and a victorious fist-bump between the two.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania Adventures OST-Discovery**

With Silvermane defeated, his Chaos Emerald was left completely vulnerable for Tails to grab hold for his team. "Cool! We got ourselves a Chaos Emerald!" Tails showed his friends their first Chaos Emerald of this adventure.

"Awesome. Just six more to go. If this Ruby is really all-powerful, we might need all seven if Eggman or the other Sinister Stooges find it for their evil schemes." Sonic said.

"What makes you so sure we'll find all of them during this adventure?" Miguel asked the hedgehog how they're going to find all the Chaos Emeralds.

"The Chaos Emeralds have a tendency appearing whenever they are needed. At least that's how I figured. These things seem to have a mind of their own sometimes." Sonic replies, then proceeds to rev up his Super Peel Out, "C'mon, gang! We're WAY not done! We got Badniks to smash, eggs to crack, and a mystery gem to find! Let's go!" He commanding, taking lead of Tails and Spider-Man deeper into the second act of Green Hill to find the Heavies and retrieve the Phantom Ruby.

**BGM End**

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: As you might probably guess, each member of the Sinister Six will have themselves a Chaos Emerald because I need to integrate them into the plot somehow. **

**Some of you might be confused about Classic Sonic and why he's reintroduced as a Sonic from "another dimension" than "from the past". In Sonic Forces (which was a sequel to Sonic Mania), Classic Sonic was said by Tails to be from "another dimension", even though it's the same Classic Sonic from Sonic Generations. As I explained in this chapter, and similar to how time travel worked in Avengers: Endgame for comparison sake, changing the past creates an "alternate timeline". Well, sometimes changing the past does change the future, but in this case, because of the Time Eater's actions in this series, Classic Sonic (and Kid Team RWBY from **_**D-Avengers: Generations**_**) now live in an alternate timeline separate from the main timeline. They exist in their own dimension now, one where Classic Sonic is going through the events of Sonic Mania unlike his Modern counterpart, and one where the RWBY kids are friends LONG before they historically meet at Beacon (for the record, they won't be showing up in this story). As for Spider-Man 2099, he still exists in the future of the main timeline because his time was caught in the Converging Genesis Wave. If you're still confused, it's understandable. It's time travel. It never makes sense.**

**XenoSlayer983: Hobgoblin 2099 doesn't exist yet in this series. Maybe in a future story.**

**Next time: Knock knock its Knuckles! Will he be friend or foe?**

**Question of the Chapter: What are your opinions on the Archie Sonic comic series if you ever read it? Pre-Reboot and Post-Reboot? Your thoughts?**

**BGM End**


	4. Issue 3: Cracking Knuckles

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Classic Sonic: I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog. Suddenly reunited with my old pal Miguel from the future while relaxing at Knothole. He and some of his own bad guys called the Sinister Six were sent into this dimension by Alchemax because of a new gemstone that can warp time and space. I know when Eggman heard about this, he sent some of his elite robots to steal it on Angel Island, but they were transformed by the Ruby and sent us to Green Hill. We're not letting them get away with that stone! Tails! Spidey! Let's get it back!**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Issue 3: Cracking Knuckles_

**Angel Island…A few minutes earlier**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Angel Island Zone**

Sometime before the Phantom Ruby was excavated from Angel Island, a familiar red echidna was seen relaxing next to a tree in the jungle with some of his animal buddies hopping around and playing games with each other, having a good time which makes the island guardian happy with a smile.

"Easy around me there, little critters. Your good friend, Knuckles the Echidna, is having his well-earned break." Knuckles told the animals, going back to leaning on the tree and staring at the clear peaceful skies above his head, "I've been guarding the Master Emerald 24/7 ever since that Eggman guy showed up a while back trying to steal it, and made me look like a fool. Whelp, he's gone now and there hasn't been anyone else on this peaceful floating island since. Well, it USED to be floating. For some reason, even though the Master Emerald is still here, Angel Island fell to the ocean. Wonder why…?" Knuckles thinks to himself, theorizing what could've caused his island to fall down to the ocean. He has his answer and shrugs, "Eh. Probably not a big deal. I'll figure it out later."

**BGM End**

Knuckles goes back to a peace of mind and forgets questioning why his island fell to the ocean, seeing it not a big issue at the moment and plans to investigate later once he's done having his me-time. But it would seem his me-time would have to be cut short, as nearby, Knuckles hears some rumbling, as if someone or something is excavating from his island. His animal buddies flee in fear while the guardian stands up, "Hey! Where's that rumbling coming from?! Who's there?!" Knuckles asked, demanding whoever's nearby to show themselves for a pounding. Suddenly, a weird sound effect is heard as the whole area gets enveloped in a "space-time field", inversing the color of the environment around the confused Knuckles as everything gets wrapped around him, sending him someplace else as he shouts, "WHAT IS GOING OOOOOOOON?!"

* * *

**Green Hill Zone**

"WHOOOOOOOOA!" Knuckles yelled, falling down with a face-plant on the underground grounds of Green Hill Zone. "GUH!" He grunts as he frees himself from the hole he made with his head and scans his new, unfamiliar surroundings, "W-Where am I? This isn't Angel Island. I look to be in some underground cavern. How did I get here? I don't know what that weird energy was all about, but if I'm not on Angel Island, I need to hurry back there and protect the Master Emerald! And whoever DID send me here, well, they better pray I don't find them!" Knuckles scowled, putting on a determined serious face as he races through the underground Green Hill Zone to find a way back home to his island.

* * *

**Elsewhere in Green Hill Zone…**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Green Hill Zone Act 2**

"Let's make this a race who can find the Ruby first!" Sonic proposed a race between himself, Tails, and Spider-Man as they continue to search for the Phantom Ruby that was stolen by the Hard Boiled Heavies.

"You're on!" Miguel agreed to web-swing his way to the lead.

"But that's not fair. None of us are as fast as you, Sonic." Tails remarked, doing his best to keep up with his super-speedy friend.

"You kidding? You're doing a good job keeping up, little buddy." Sonic smiled proudly, riding down a zip line above the lake.

"Really?" Tails remarked, amazed and happy.

"By the way, Spidey, how are the others doing? Like those kids from that 'Remnant' world? One of them was called 'Ruby', I think? And older me, and that other Spider-Man that hanged with him?" Sonic asked about their dimensional friends and counterparts from their last adventure together during the Time Eater incident.

"Oh, them? I haven't seen them since then, but I have met Ruby Rose's descendant in my time." Miguel replied, gliding past Buzz Bombers before destroying them with web-bullets.

"Descendant? But don't you two live in different worlds?" Tails asked, having not been informed about the Convergence event.

"Not anymore. Long story short, there was a cosmic merge that fused my world with the future worlds of Mobius and Remnant and it's been like that ever since." Miguel explained briefly.

"Worlds collided? Must have been crazy, huh?" Sonic grinned, jumping on a few Batbrains.

"Believe me, it was quite the shock, but I eventually got used to the new world. It's probably because of the Merge is why Alchemax created the Ruby in the first place, because business was hit hard for them when the worlds converged and are trying to regain control by taking advantage controlling the new world of 2099." Miguel discussed, deducing that might've been the reason for Alchemax creating the Ruby.

"Alchemax and the Eggman Empire don't sound too different when you put it like that. By the way, what are we going to do with Silvermane that we left behind?" Tails asked, curious what to do with the defeated Silvermane they left behind.

"Once we get back the Ruby, I can probably use it to send us and the rest of the Six back to my dimension. Just need to find those Egg-Robos." Miguel replied, dodging fire from more Badniks before freeing the animals trapped inside.

"Tracking down slightly upgraded egg-bots shouldn't be too hard." Sonic smirked, being cocky they could locate the Heavies and retrieve the Ruby.

**BGM End**

During their journey through the bright blue underground lake, the loud battle sounds of knuckles cracking and smashing robots was loud enough for them to hear, forcing the gang to take an immediate halt. "Did you guys hear that? It sounded like someone is fighting." Sonic heard.

"I'm seeing someone nearby below that ledge." Miguel used his Accelerated Vision to locate the source of the fighting, pointing his friends over that ledge. Team Sonic walks onto the ledge and looks down, finding a familiar red echidna surrounded with several Badniks that are about to be smashed.

**BGM-Sonic Mania Adventures OST-Theme of Knuckles**

"It's Knuckles!" Tails recognized.

"What's he doing here?" Sonic wondered why their red friend is in Green Hill instead of his home at Angel Island.

Cracking his namesakes, Knuckles glares at the circle of Badniks that really think they stand a chance against an echidna that doesn't chuckle and would rather flex his knuckles, "Alright, tuna cans! You want some of this?! You're going to get some of this! RAAAAH!" Knuckles engages the robots and takes them out in a wild display of power. He aggressively punches through several Moto Bugs. Grabs the tail of a Newtron and ruthlessly slams it repeatedly on several other Badniks squads. "GRAAAAAAH!" Lastly, he violently uppercuts a frightened Crabmeat into the air to explode and blowing up the hovering Buzz Bombers and Batbrains without a second thought.

Miguel gives a confused look through his mask while Sonic and Tails simply sweatdrop from Knuckles' short-tempered fighting, "Still the short-tempered knucklehead we know and love." Sonic joked.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Knuckles Chaotix OST-Door Into Summer**

Just as Knuckles finishes up, he shockingly sees Sonic's group dropping down to meet him, "You're…Sonic." Knuckles recognized the blue hedgehog rival, who he hasn't seen since Sonic saved his island from Dr. Eggman a while ago.

"Hey Knuckles. Long time no see. Taking a little vacation from your island paradise?" Sonic joked with his echidna rival.

Knuckles scowls from the hedgehog's joking attitude, "Why would I ever do that? I was doing just fine relaxing in Angel Island, but for some reason I was sent here by some 'weird energy', and next thing you know, I was fighting Eggman's robots."

"You must have been nearby when we were caught in the space-time field." Miguel proclaimed, getting a suspicious look from the untrusting guardian.

"Who the heck are you? Did you send me here?" Knuckles asked the future man.

"No. My name is Spider-Man, but I'm not from this world. I'm from the world of 2099. The future, to put it short." Spider-Man explained himself.

"The future? That doesn't make much sense." Knuckles replied, still not trusting the webhead.

"Visit Little Planet one of these days and you'll become a believer." Sonic joked before getting into some serious business. "Anyways Knux, the reason why any of us are here is because of some weird gem that came from Spidey's world created by an evil corporation that wants to rule the world. It's some kind of Ruby and is VERY powerful. It's the reason why Angel Island fell back to the ocean."

"That's impossible. How could one measly gem from the future powerful enough to counter the Master Emerald's power to keep Angel Island afloat? The Master Emerald is the most powerful gem in the world." Knuckles argued, not believing the Phantom Ruby could possibly be equal or stronger than the Master Emerald.

"You just answered your own question. It's a gem from the future, from my world, created by Alchemax. They don't hold back with experiments that can doom the entire planet." Miguel told him.

"We gotta find that stone before Eggman does. Whaddya say, Knuckles? Wanna help us out?" Sonic asked the stubborn guardian.

Knuckles ponders this request for a moment, thinking deeply while keeping his suspicions high, "Hmm…I still don't really trust any of you, but…I guess I owe you for saving Angel Island. I need to hurry and get back protecting the Master Emerald." Knuckles smiles, "And I have been on a mood for some treasure-hunting, so sure, I'm in."

"You're a treasure hunter?" Tails asked, utterly amazed like the little kid he is.

Knuckles smugingly smiles while posing proudly, "The world's greatest. I have the innate ability to track down mystical energies like Chaos Emeralds or the Master Emerald, which makes ME the perfect leader to lead this team!"

"I wonder how long THAT will last?" Sonic quipped, casually rolling his eyes.

**BGM End**

Suddenly, Miguel's Accelerated Vision picks up their being locked-on with an invisible reticle. "Guys, MOVE!" Miguel tackles his mobian friends away from being smooshed by a giant Eggman-looking robot.

"Where did that thing come from?!" Knuckles remarked.

"You're the leader. Tell us." Miguel quipped.

**BGM-Sonic the Hedgehog 2 OST-Boss**

The heroes stand up confronting the giant mech which is, unsurprisingly, piloted by none other than the chuckling Dr. Eggman. "Dr. Eggman!" Knuckles scowled, still angry at the doctor for trying to steal the Master Emerald a while ago.

"Piloting the Death Egg Robot? A little too early bringing out the big guns, doc." Sonic said to his chuckling nemesis, wasn't expecting him to summon his strongest mech usually reserved for climatic end battles.

"I'm not in the MOOD to hold back! This time, I want to finish you off as soon as possible! You, and your future bug friend over there!" Eggman smiled sinisterly at the four heroes.

"Where's the Ruby, doctor? That power doesn't belong to you." Miguel demanded the return of the Phantom Ruby.

"I'm the only one in the WORLD who can master the Phantom Ruby's power!" Eggman retorted.

"The Phantom Ruby? That's what you're calling it?" Miguel remarked.

"Patent pending. Once my Hard Boiled Heavies return with my prize, I'll use its power to RULE THE WORLD! Until I can track their whereabouts since they're running oddly late, I'll spend my time by DESTROYING YOU!" Eggman declared.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Ruby Delusions**

Eggman chuckles creepily before closing the head of the cockpit and begins constantly chasing the heroes. "Keep moving! Be careful of his claws!" Sonic advised the team while running away from the giant mech. The Death Egg Robot launches out its claw attacking the heroes, but they were able to avoid his attack. Sonic lands on the outstretched arm and charges up a quick Spin Dash to damage the mech.

"**Ow! You little pipsqueak! I just rebuilt this thing!" **Eggman retorts by launching bombs from his back, exploding at Sonic and knocking little blue to the ground dazed.

As another bomb was fired at Sonic, Miguel saves him by web-throwing the bomb back at the doc, "Picked the wrong time re-testing if that oversized suit is still functional!" The future spider fires pressurized web-bullets that explodes on contact of the mech, distracting it long enough for him and Knuckles to launch an aggressive assault. Spider-Man punches the chest fiercely while Knuckles pounds on the head ruthlessly.

"Open this giant egg so I can crack punier one!" Knuckles threatened.

"**Who are you calling puny?!" **Eggman fires more bombs aimed at the head, enough to knock Knuckles off from it. He then uses his claws to smack Miguel off his body, one missed after he jumped but the other was fast enough to knock him to the ground. **"Now where's that meddlesome hedgehog and his puny fox friend?!" **He scanned his surroundings for Sonic and Tails but didn't find them until it was too late.

"Up here, chunkers!" Sonic alerts Eggman from the air holding onto the flying Tails' hands. Tails throws his best friend in his spinball form hard enough to stagger the mech, then immediately attacks himself.

"Sonic! Tails! Go after his legs!" Miguel advises, webbing up the legs to keep it from moving for a bit.

"Sure thing!" Sonic replies, launching a powerful spin-attack that destroys one of the webbed legs, allowing Tails to do the same to the other.

With the legs destroyed, the Death Egg Robot is unable to move anymore, leaving scared ol' Eggman vulnerable to another powerful punch from Knuckles, **"Wait-wait! STOP!" **Knuckles punched a hole into the mech and rips out some wires, causing it to go haywire with the bombs flying all over the place. Spider-Man zips over and clogs the bomb back-launcher with enough webbing so it could swell up with explosive bombs that are seconds away from exploding, **"Uh oh! Where did I install that blasted eject button?!" **Eggman frantically presses every button on the controls to escape but was distracted with one last spin attack from Sonic. The swelled-up bomb launcher couldn't take the pressure and exploded, blowing up the Death Egg Robot as it falls through a hole in the ground from the explosion while screaming, **"I HATE THAT HEDGEHOOOOOOOOG…!"**

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Act Clear**

"I haven't heard that in a while." Sonic joked. The young blue hero spotted a flying animal Capsule above his head after defeating the Death Egg Robot. As he traditionally does, Sonic jumps up and touches the switch, freeing the animals from their cage.

**BGM End**

"So he captures animals to power his robots, correct?" Miguel asked Tails, been meaning to ask why Eggman captures woodland critters.

"Yup. Truly diabolical." Tails replied.

"No kidding. That's just cruel." Miguel said.

"Does Alchemax also use animals as power sources?" Tails asked him.

"I wouldn't be surprised they use alien animals to power a microwave." Miguel joked.

"Hey guys! I think I'm starting to sense that 'Phantom Ruby' you were talking about." Knuckles informed the team, starting to sense its energy.

"Where is it?" Miguel asked him.

"Down that hole where Eggman crashed into." Knuckles pointed to the hole that was caused by the Death Egg Robot's explosion.

"Come on! Let's go check it out!" Sonic commanded.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Hard Boiled Heavies Mischief Theme**

Team Sonic drop down the hole into a deeper section of the Green Hill cave. They stay silent as they hear an angry Eggman talking to someone and carefully walks to his location. They found a ledge and carefully hid themselves when they spotted Eggman shouting at his Hard Boiled Heavies playing around with the Phantom Ruby they were ordered to give him as soon as they found it.

"So those transformed Egg-Robos are Eggman's 'Hard Boiled Heavies'." Sonic whispered while watching Eggman talking to his creations.

"But something's wrong. They don't seem to be listening to him." Miguel noticed the Heavies are acting rather rebellious to their master.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU BOLTS?! I ordered you to retrieve the Phantom Ruby to me, but here I find you playing with it like children! Are your screws loose or something?! GIVE ME THE RUBY!" Eggman loudly ordered, looking quite steamed while yelling at his now-rebellious creations. The Heavy King mockingly turns his back to his former master while allowing Heavy Shinobi to continue playing with the Ruby using his head, enraging Eggman even more. "FINE! Disrespect me all you want! I don't need you anymore! I only need this!" Eggman uses the functional right claw of his destroyed Death Egg Robot to steal the gemstone from the rebellious swine, shocking the Heavies and leaving Heavy King angry. "At the very least, you rebellious swine accomplished your task giving me the Ruby! Now I will use its power to banish you away from my sight!" Eggman raises the Ruby to the air, laughing manically as he activates a space-time field that envelops the area.

The Heavies flee the scene in hopes of escaping its range, while it was already too late for the heroes as they were caught in its power and are about to be warped to another location. "Oh no. Not again." Miguel remarked.

"Where are we gonna GOOOOOO?!" Sonic yelled as the gang are about to be transported through time and space to an unknown destination as they scream, "WHOOOOOOOOOA!" simultaneously.

**BGM End**

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: Knuckles has joined the party. Remember, this is "Classic" Knuckles sometime after the events of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, so he hasn't fully trust Sonic and friends just yet, but is willingly to help them out if it's the only way to get back to Angel Island. We also won't be seeing any other member of the Sinister Six 2099 for a few chapters, just to let you all know.**

**superjoeyf721: That hasn't been the case in recent years ever since Miguel O'Hara reappeared in the first volume of the Superior Spider-Man comics in 2013, basically confirming (or retconning) the 2099 universe IS the future version of the 616 universe and are part of the same timeline. That is also the case in this series, especially now with Miguel's time merged with Silver's time, which has always been placed as the future of Sonic's world.**

**Next time: Who's mean with the bean at the machine?**

**Question of the Chapter: Not so much as a question but a random little fun activity. Rank all the "final bosses" of each United Heroes story from strongest to weakest (Ex. God Emperor Doom, Primal Abyss, Cosmic Egg-Octobot X, etc.).**

**BGM End**


	5. Issue 4: Dr Eggman's Mean Bean Machine

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Spider-Man 2099: The name's Miguel O'Hara. I'm the Spider-Man of the Year 2099. We met up with the Guardian of Angel Island, Knuckles the Echidna. Like us, he was caught in the space-time warp thanks to the Phantom Ruby and was sent to Green Hill. Soon after, we fought Eggman in his giant mech, but like everything else I've encountered in this era, it's old and didn't last very long, but I guess the same could be said for us. Eggman has the Phantom Ruby and sent us somewhere else across space and time. Shock. Now where are we gonna end up?**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Issue 4: Dr. Eggman's Mean Bean Machine_

**Secret Lab, Chemical Plant Zone**

A space-time field emanates from within a secret laboratory at this "Chemical Plant" that summons Dr. Eggman into it, still in possession of the Phantom Ruby he stole from his rebellious Hard Boiled Heavies. Eggman lets out his signature laughter, "Finally, I have the Phantom Ruby in my hand! Such _illustrious_ power in the palm of my fingertips! Ohohoho! I cannot wait to use you for such cruelty. But not yet. I made a promise, then I will unleash cruelty onto the world."

Eggman concentrates his thoughts on the Ruby as he thrusts his arm forward, "Now, Phantom Ruby, open a portal to the world of 2099!" The Phantom Ruby glows it's ominous color once again as the weird sound it makes when activated emanates, opening a space-time portal to the world of 2099 for a certain other evil individual to walk through.

**BGM-Kirby Planet Robobot OST-Secretary Susie's Theme 1**

"It's about time you retrieved the Phantom Ruby. I was starting to get tired of waiting in the lab." Entering Mobius from the portal is none other than Serena Patel of Alchemax, Doc Ock 2099, reuniting with her dimensional ally in this new plan of theirs to rule both their worlds.

"Don't blame me. My Heavies stopped listening to my orders right after they retrieved the Phantom Ruby. I assume after being struck with its power, a side effect of their newfound transformation caused them to go insane, something I could have not predicted." Eggman stated, no longer in control of the Heavies.

"Hmm. Yes. Its power must've been more than those 'ancient bots' could handle and loosened a few of their screws. But they served their purpose and retrieved back my Phantom Ruby." Ock 2099 said, finding the Heavies irrelevant as of now.

"Ahem. OUR Phantom Ruby." Eggman scowled, not liking her being so "egotistical" and that they're in a mutual partnership.

Patel scowls back annoyingly, "Well, I DID create the darn thing. Fine. _Our _Phantom Ruby. Happy?"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get down to business how we're going to accomplish our _mutual _goal." Eggman replied, impatiently wanting to start the discussion already.

Patel projects a holographic image of the planet from her suit as a starting point of their discussion of interdimensional takeover, "For starters, we need to establish an undisclosed base of operations to continue our work. Have any area in mind?" She asked the man with the master plan.

Eggman smiles as he switches the hologram to an image of a familiar 'miracle planet' over a lake, "Oh, absolutely. With the Phantom Ruby, I can summon Little Planet back to the surface and reconquer it as our headquarters. Now how are we going to use the Phantom Ruby _proper _to conquer both our worlds?"

"I may have an idea. Use it to destroy every and all potential threats to our conquest _discreetly_." Patel suggested.

"Discreetly? How do you suppose we do that without alerting our enemies of their inevitable destruction?" Eggman asked curiously.

Patel explains, "Simple. We create an algorithm. Analyzing the data of every single being on both our worlds that or COULD pose a threat to us. Evaluating people's past to predict their future. We then create a super-powered weapon capable of attacking interdimensional targets from Little Planet _alone_, using the Phantom Ruby as the power source to distort space-time between our dimensions. They'll never see it coming. We'll be able to eliminate our enemies without them ever knowing who brought them their demise."

Eggman chuckles, "That sounds perfect. But there's still Sonic and Spider-Man to worry about. Not to mention the traitorous Heavies and those 'Sinister Six' hooligans you told me about. They've been scattered across the planet attacking my empire and stealing Chaos Emeralds."

"We'll have to distract them, or dispose them, if we can. With the Phantom Ruby, dreams can become reality. Allow me to show you." Patel takes the Ruby off of her partner's palm and demonstrates another of its limitless power.

The Phantom Ruby glows in her hands and instantly summons a small army of Public Eye officers out of thin air, surprisingly the heck out of Eggman, "W-What?! Where did they come from?!" He asked, voicing his shock.

"The Phantom Ruby. It's capable of creating virtual reality projections. The perfect Replicas that not even the most advanced computers of 2099 could differentiate from the originals." Patel answered, showcasing the Phantom Ruby's virtual reality power by replicating her own Public Eye army.

"And what's the limit of how many replicas we can create?" Eggman asked, now intrigued.

Patel smiles, looking a bit creepy as she does, "Infinite. There are no limits how many replicas the Phantom Ruby can produce."

Eggman can't help but be purely ecstatic when he heard they can create an army of infinity, "An INFINITE army?! How delightful! Now I don't have to risk spraining my back building new Badniks every week! Ohohohohoho! This HAS to be the ultimate dream alliance ever! Alchemax's futuristic resources working in harmony with the Eggman Empire's advanced machinery! That's not even counting the Phantom Ruby into the mix! There's NO WAY Sonic and his spider friend could stop us now!"

**BGM End**

* * *

**Main area of Chemical Plant Zone**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Chemical Plant Act 1**

Meanwhile, elsewhere inside the Chemical Plant, Team Sonic and Spider-Man have just been teleported to the factory after Eggman got his hands on the Phantom Ruby earlier and landed painfully on their stomachs.

Miguel groans as he stands up to check his new surroundings asking, "Now where in the multiverse did we end up?" A drop of toxic pink liquid hit his head, making him touch the 'mega muck' and study it, "What is this? Some sort of toxic muck? It looks like we've been transported to some chemical factory."

"I recognize where we are! We're in the Chemical Plant Zone! This place is dangerous with its Mega-Mack." Tails recognized the area, remembering traveling through here during his first adventure with Sonic.

"Mega-Mack?" Knuckles remarked, sounding disgusted.

"Besides the purple water, this place was a LOT of fun to run around in! Can't wait to do it again!" Sonic grinned, being cheerful as ever.

"Just remember our world-saving mission here. Now that Eggman has the Phantom Ruby, who knows what kind of damage he'll use it for?" Miguel remains serious, more focused wanting to prevent a dimensional disaster.

"Relax, S-Man. Everything will work out. Live a little. Yo Knux, sense the Ruby anywhere?" Sonic asked the energy-sensing guardian.

"I'm the leader of this group, remember? I call the shots." Knuckles argued, reminding him of his self-proclaimed leadership.

"Yes, Captain Knucklehead." Sonic teased, annoying him.

Knuckles focuses his mind while scanning the huge factory, "It's here. I can sense its energy a couple of miles in this direction."

"I can support this. Lyla told me the same thing. She picked up Eggman's signature along with the Ruby." Miguel confirmed.

"Then let's go kill two birds with one stone!" Sonic revs up and speeds off with his friends inside the factory filled with machinery and dangerous chemicals. Sonic rolls down a long steep slope, hollering with excitement as he rides up to the sky at the end of the slope to another platform to run on. Tails has fun traveling through a high-speed warp tube that even dives to the toxic underwater pool. Knuckles frantically climbs up from the infamous rising pool of Mega Muck and the shifting block platforms that repeatedly keep blocking his path. Meanwhile, Spider-Man skydives down a vertical shaft that leads to a toxic pool, managing to glide over it to save himself as he meets up with his friends.

"Even Eco Central would have a hard time hiding how polluted this plant is. Is Eggman polluting for pollution's sake? Why would anyone in this era need to produce this much chemical fuel? Unless he's stockpiling it all…" Miguel asked, before thinking Alchemax was the worst with their illegal pollution activities. Now it looks like Eggman is competing to be the worst polluter in history.

"We've seen it firsthand he needs this much fuel to power a truly _monstrous _machine like the Death Egg Robot we just fought!" Tails replied.

"The amount of joules that much fuel could produce. You guys must've faced some real powerhouse machines. We got to shut this place down for the better of the environment." Miguel remarked, starting to find Eggman really diabolical.

"And that requires finding Eggman and cracking him wide open." Sonic said, destroying Catakiller, Jr. robots.

"So what's the future like, webhead?" Knuckles asked curiously, gliding by the web-swinging Spider-Man.

"Everything you would expect from the future. Flying cars. Tall buildings everywhere. Advanced technology…" As Miguel talks, his Accelerated Vision kicks him. As if time is slowing down, he turns to see the surprise appearance of three Public Eye officers from a nearby platform ready to shoot him off the air, "The Public Eye?!"

"Is that some new eye pain in the future?" Knuckles replied confusedly.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Danger on the Dance Floor**

"Fire!" A PE officer ordered his men. A barrage of energy bullets fire on Spider-Man and Knuckles in the air. Spidey is doing his best dodging their attacks while Knuckles glides frantically away from them since he is entirely clueless of the situation. The two managed to land behind Sonic and Tails as all four of them found themselves confronted by a Public Eye squadron.

"Freeze! You are all under arrest by the order of Alchemax and the Eggman Empire!" A commanding officer pointed his gun at the heroes.

"I recognize these coppers from our time traveling adventure. They're from your world, right?" Sonic asked his future friend.

"The Public Eye. The police force owned by Alchemax. And I'm not sure which is more corrupt. Seems that Eggman summoned them here using the Phantom Ruby." Miguel guessed, unaware to them these are just Replicas created by the Phantom Ruby thanks to Ock 2099.

"Target them, men! Take them, dead or alive!" The Public Eye start attacking the heroes with their weapons, but they were too fast and managed to dodge most of them.

"Are you guys arresting me for going over the speed limit?" Sonic joked, taking down multiple officers easily with his speedy spin-attacks.

"You guys must've really missed killing me if you traveled dimensions for this." Spider-Man slashes their guns before striking down multiple goons at once. With assistance from Tails and Knuckles, Sonic and Spider-Man are making quick work of the Public Eye, forcing them to change tactics.

"We're taking heavy fire! Summon the Amoeba Droid we were given!" A PE officer ordered through his ear comm.

While fighting as a group, the heroes look up to see a robotic satellite with the red Eggman Empire logo almost ambush them, dropping down into the blue Mega Mack below the arena and collect it, creating an impenetrable barrier. "It's using the Mack as a toxic barrier! Don't touch it!" Tails warned his friends, ordering them to dodge when it bounces along the ground chasing them.

The Droid almost slammed itself onto Miguel, but the future hero uses his Accelerated Decoy to dodge its attack. It then hovers in the air and mold its gathered Mega Mack into small orbs of chemicals orbiting it around the middle. _'I wonder if I can grab that stuff with my webbing now that it's molded.' _Miguel thought. He shoots a webline to grab one of the Mack Orbs and throws right back it, causing the machine to slowly corrode while web-shooting the other orbs away, leaving it vulnerable to an all-out attack.

"It's defenseless now!" Miguel told his friends.

"Good!" Knuckles angrily grabs the defenseless damaged droid and roaringly throws it at the remaining Public Eye squadron, causing the machine to explode on them and scatter the officers into unconsciousness.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Chemical Plant Zone Act 2**

Just when things were looking good for the heroes, it wasn't. Suddenly, alarms are triggering everywhere around the plant alerting them they have intruders. "Knuckles, what did you do?!" Sonic asked the stubborn guardian.

"Nothing! I just kicked butt!" Knuckles retorted.

Miguel uses his Accelerated Vision to see more Public Eye approaching them from their hovercrafts and dropships carrying Badniks and more officers. "We should keep moving! The entire plant's alerted to our presence!" He ordered.

The heroes press forward deeper into the Chemical Plant, entering a new area Sonic and Tails never visited before the last time they ventured here. There are sticky sliding platforms that lift them to new areas and intertwined tube chutes that resembles a double helix, leading them into more Public Eye and Badniks to beat up during their journey.

"These guys are really persistent!" Sonic kicked an officer right in the face-mask.

"We are infiltrating a supposed-top secret chemical factory. Excuse them for doing their job, even though they really suck at it." Spidey swing-kicked a PE officer off to a bouncy jelly pool that are all over this section of the plant.

Tails jumps onto the plunger of a large syringe above a jelly pool, injecting it with new chemicals from the syringe and changes its color from blue to green. Seeing it is safe to jump on judging from that other PE officer's bouncy experience, Tails bounces higher than that officer to a top platform, "Cool! The chemicals from that syringe changes how bouncy the jelly could be!" He observed amazingly.

Sonic and the others follow Tails from the same path, bouncing off the jelly to his platform. "Nice job, little buddy. That should give us the high ground from the Public Eye for a bit." Sonic complimented his little bro before the gang continue causing havoc through the zone.

**BGM End**

Soon after fighting through more Public Eye Replicas and Badniks, the heroes dropped down to a new unfamiliar section in the depths of the Chemical Plant. An area is made up of gray metal with and yellow and black hazard stripes and pipes with blue Mega Mack flowing through them. There also appears to be two cabins across from each other with adjustable consoles and trap doors on the bottom that each lead into a pipe.

"What's this supposed to be?" Miguel asked Sonic as the two nonchalantly walk onto one of the cabins.

"Dunno. Never been to his area before. Looks to be some kind of machine." Sonic replied.

**BGM-Kirby Planet Robobot OST-Secretary Susie's Theme 1**

"A Mean BEAN Machine to be exact!" That familiar voice shocked the heroes as across from them, Eggman shows up walking onto the other cabin, but he's not alone this time. He's quickly joined by Doc Ock 2099 with him as well, further shocking them.

"Eggman!" Sonic scowled.

"Who's the lady octopus?" Knuckles asked, as this is his first time confronting Ock 2099.

"Serena Patel! What are you doing in this dimension?" Miguel asked the lady octopus.

Patel answers with a devious smile, "Eggman brought me here per my request to recover my creation, the Phantom Ruby. As I'm sure you've just experienced, Alchemax and the Eggman Empire have formed the very first dimensional corporation alliance between our two worlds."

"You were in charge creating the Phantom Ruby?" Miguel remarked from this new information.

"Indeed. I was the head scientist appointed by Tyler Stone himself for Project Valtron. Though Alchemax's original intention was to use the Ruby to expand the company worldwide and take out the competition and control over everything until you and Goblin's Six interrupted, it was thanks to that little dimensional hiccup we gained the idea to control this world and our world."

"I'm not going to allow Alchemax poison another world with their illegal activities. I'm pulling the plug." Miguel declared, scowling by the mask.

"On what? You don't know what we're planning." Eggman taunted.

"I bet it involves the Phantom Ruby. Give it back before you hurt yourselves with it." Sonic demanded.

"I don't think so. First, shall we play a game?" Eggman asked, grinning suspiciously.

"We don't have time to play your games!" Knuckles retorted.

"Good, 'cause you're not the one playing! It'll be me and Petal versus Sonic and Spider-Man in a game of Mean Bean based on one of my older contraptions that acts as a puzzle game! Whoever team's tank overflows with Puyos loses!" Eggman retorted, challenging his enemies to an intellectual game instead of combating them with brute force.

"We don't have time to play games with you!" Miguel retorted, not in the mood for games.

"You don't have a lot of choice unless you want to suddenly plummet to a highly toxic pool of Mega Mack through a space-time warp!" Eggman grinned sinisterly, planning to drop the heroes into the toxic pool below using the Phantom Ruby if they do not play by his games.

"Doesn't seem we have a lot of choice. But I'm fast and you're smart, Spidey. This should be a piece of cake." Sonic grinned, having full confidence they can beat the mad scientists at their own game.

"If you're up for it, sure. If we want to get out of here, we need to take them down at their own game." Miguel replied, accepting the Mean Bean game against his enemies.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Eggman Mean Bean**

Pairs of differently-colored Puyos drop into the tanks of its respective contestant as they try to arrange them in a certain formation for them to disappear from their tank. On Sonic's side, Sonic is the one handling the controls with his fast hands while Miguel advises his game plan. On the other side, Eggman handles the controls while Patel acts as his adviser.

"Should have let me play. I have the multiple arms." Patel argued, wanting to be the megalomaniac playing the game.

"I created this machine! I'm the Mean Bean Champion! I know what I'm doing!" Eggman retorted, not wanting to be disturbed as he plays.

"Place the red one in an upwards formation and place it over there, then get the other three!" Miguel advises his hedgehog partner.

"Done it in a split second! Next!" Sonic responded, already cleared two rows of Puyos, causing transparent Garbage Puyos to be deposited in random places on Eggman's board, making it harder for him to score any combos.

"You're losing." Patel informed her increasingly-annoyed partner.

"I want them to think that! It's all part of the plan!" Eggman lied.

"Go for that spot!" Miguel pointed to an open spot to score another combo.

"Got it!" Sonic sees it and places another Puyo pair in that spot, scoring more combos that give Eggman more headaches.

"Give me the controls!" Patel sees they are losing and struggles to reach for the controls but Eggman fights back and wouldn't allow her.

"No! I had them on the ropes! Put your multiple arms away from my precious machine!" Eggman loudly argued like they're a married couple, getting a humorous stare and sweatdrops from Tails and Knuckles watching them fight from the distance.

"I think I see a huge combo with this pair!" Sonic noticed his next pair of blue Puyos matches a good chunk piled up with the same color.

"Then go for it! No need to ask me!" Miguel told him to just do it and score that big combo that wins them the game, causing Eggman's tank to be overflowed with Puyos because he can't grasp any combos to exploit because of all the Garbage variety blocking his path.

"NOOOO! Look what you've done! You distracted me!" Eggman shouted as his tank and cabins starts blowing up from the overflow, blaming Patel for their loss.

"Shut up! We would've won if you weren't being so stubborn!" Patel yelled back.

"Get a room you two! Ha ha ha!" Sonic joked, angering the twin evil doctors to growl at him and Spider-Man before plummeting down a pipe to the toxic pool beneath them. Luckily, they have the Phantom Ruby and used its powers to transport them out of Chemical Plant Zone before falling into impeding doom, but not before initiating the self-destruction sequence of the base that'll ensure the heroes own doom.

"What NOW?!" Knuckles asked, annoyed with the sudden rumbling and exploding.

"They must have activated the self-destruction sequence!" Tails proclaimed.

"Truly what a waste of time that was!" Miguel remarked how pointless that mini game was, noticing the whole plant is going critical.

"That's expected from a pair of sore losers. Let's hurry and find the exit, but not before freeing these animals!" Sonic found an Animal Capsule to press the switch on, freeing the animals so they won't get caught in the explosion and watches them escape through a nearby sewer pipe. "There! That's our exit!" The hurried hedgehog pointed.

"I don't know if I can fit in there!" Miguel remarked, thinking he's too big to ride through the narrow sewer pipe.

"Just curl yourself into a web ball and jump in!" Sonic advises as Tails and Knuckles have already escaped through the pipe before he does, leaving Miguel alone in the Chemical Plant just seconds before it could blow up.

"I'm gonna need a massage once this is over." Miguel joked, curling himself inside a big-enough web ball to jump down through the sewer pipe and successfully escaped from the explosions that put a stop to Chemical Plant's pollution on the island.

**BGM End**

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: Doc Ock 2099 has shown up in Classic Mobius and is teaming up with Eggman to destroy both worlds and take over. There are now four different factions fighting against each other for possession of the Phantom Ruby: There's the Doctors, who have the Ruby. The Heroes. The Sinister Six 2099. And the Hard Boiled Heavies.**

**Guest (from July 28): No. That's a little early for any of that considering both are still in school.**

**D.N. Works: As far as I know, the Phantom Ruby's origin is a mystery in the games. So I took the liberty adding an origin by saying it was created by Alchemax to be the interdimensional stone that it is right now.**

**Guest (from July 29): This isn't the Amazing Spider-Man movies. In this series, like in the original comics, Peter's parents were secret agents for the CIA, and Peter has LONG knew the truth about them which was referenced back in the **_**Spider-Man: Battle for Remnant **_**storyline.**

**Next time: Live from Studiopolis! Airing on Egg TV! It's Dr. Eggman! Guest-starring the Heavy Gunner!**

**Question of the Chapter: Unsure if this question was asked before but, what is your favorite MCU movie and why?**

**BGM End**


	6. Issue 5: Prime Time

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Classic Sonic: I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog. We got transported to Chemical Plant right after Eggman got his chubby hands on the Phantom Ruby. We're still on the hunt for him but along the way we got caught in a small fight against the Public Eye, a corrupt police force from Miguel's world. That's not all. We also fought the female Doctor Octopus from his world along with Eggman in a weird puzzle game battle. We beat them at their own game easily, and for being sore losers, they blew up the Chemical Plant in hopes of destroying us. We managed to escape through a sewer pipe. Hope it leads up somewhere less smelly.**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Issue 5: Prime Time_

**Scrap Brain Zone**

**BGM-Mega Man Star Force 3 OST-Theme of Dealer**

"Here it is." Goblin 2099 smiled, hovering above an old industrial city on South Island. The rabble rouser flies above the still-active booby traps like flamethrowers and lasers until he lands within the old base of Dr. Eggman. Goblin chuckled darkly, "This is what they call the Scrap Brain Zone, eh. Certainly looks like scrap, and was made by a guy with a big brain for a stomach. Ahahaha!" He cackled, with his voice echoing. The madman from the future takes out a stopwatch with a radar screen that he stole from another of Eggman's bases right after he was accidently transported into this world. "According to this 'Emerald Detector', one of those 'Chaos Emeralds' is near." Goblin explores the insides of the base further and avoids more traps looking for a Chaos Emerald. It took some time, but eventually, he found one: the green Chaos Emerald lying idly on the ground. Goblin smiled evilly, "Ahh, and there it is. Just waiting for me to pick it up." He picks up the emerald with a smile, loving the power he can feel from within, "This green one has so much power I should rename myself the 'Green' Goblin. Ha ha ha. I wonder how the others are doing? I should check up on them to see if they're still alive."

Goblin touches his hidden wrist device to project full body holograms of the other members of his 'Sinister Six', managing to get in contact with each and every single one of them scattered across Classic Mobius. _"What is it, Goblin? Can't you see I'm still trying to figure out where the shock we are in the world?" _Electro 2099 asked, complaining.

"We're not _in _our world, but in an entirely different one. A whole new dimension." Goblin explained.

"_No wonder everything here looks so 'boring' and 'low-tech'. How did we get here?" _Electro asked.

"It was the Ruby. Alchemax's newest creation is more powerful than I first thought when I discovered plans of its development." Goblin replied.

"_Have a plan how we're going to get back home?" _Vulture 2099 asked, crossing his arms.

Goblin chuckled, "What's the rush, Vulture? Don't you want to have a little vacation ruling this world as well? This dimension is so '90s' while we're from the future of 2099! We're practically the most superior beings out of everyone on this planet!"

"_How are we going to rule two different worlds without that Ruby we didn't steal?" _Rhino 2099 asked his leader.

"Relax, my robotic rhinoceros. You all have gotten the attention of the 'Eggman Empire', haven't you? You must have heard the rumors about the 'Chaos Emeralds'." Goblin replied, remaining calm and crazy.

"_What are those?" _Venom 2099 asked curiously.

Goblin shows the group the emerald he just collected from this base, "It's one of these. Rumor say there are seven in total, and when you have all seven, you gain the power to RULE the world! Silvermane found one of them but apparently lost it!" He turned his annoyed head to the scowling old man cyborg.

"_It was taken from me by Spider-Man and his blue hedgehog friend." _Silvermane calmly defended himself.

"_You lost to an organic mammal?" _Electro mocked.

"_The hedgehog was fast. Had youth on his side, android. A century ago, the original Spider-Man also fought together with a blue hedgehog. It's like the spider and hedgehog are always destined to work together, no matter the dimension. I've also gained intel Dr. Eggman has gain possession of the 'Phantom Ruby' and is working with Alchemax scientist, Serena Patel.' _Silvermane informed his allies of this worrying news.

"That octopus woman is here too? Makes no difference. As long as we collect the other Chaos Emeralds and steal back the Ruby, no one can stand against us! We'll be unstoppable! Now go out and find those gems, my allies, and continue to be a pest for the Doctors and the _heroes_!" Goblin smiled darkly, ordering his allies to find the other Chaos Emeralds and the Phantom Ruby, and kill anyone that gets in their way of dimensional conquest.

**BGM End**

* * *

**Studiopolis Zone**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Lights, Camera, Action!**

A large urban city of film production, Team Sonic burst into the zone from a manhole through the pipe that they used to escape the exploding Chemical Plant. "Whew. That was _way _too close. Is everyone alright?" Sonic asked his friends, concerned about them as he stretches his legs.

"We're good." Tails answered, telling him they're fine.

Miguel remarks, "Speak for yourself. My back's aching from being curled up in a ball of webbing. Almost thought was gonna get stuck midway in that pipe."

"Where are we? Sure reminds me of Carnival Night." Knuckles observed, finding themselves in a color-filled city, with tall skyscrapers decorated with studio equipment, cinema elements and theater objects.

"Don't know. Never visited this place before." Sonic walked around for a bit, checking out his new surroundings.

"Looks like we ended up in a city that's popularized with film production. It's decorated with studio equipment. It's like we're in, uh…Hollywood I think they used to call it from my time. Think they changed the name to 'Hollyoplis' at one point." Miguel commented.

"I'm liking the style here. 'BY THE MANIA, FOR THE MANIA'. Don't know what it means, but I like it." Sonic points to the quote on a LED sign above.

"Guys! Check this out!" Tails shows them several advertisements with Eggman and Patel's names on it, including a black-and-white cartoon gif of a 90s looking Eggman dancing.

"Is Eggman too cheap to afford color?" Sonic joked about the 90s Eggman with deadpan eyes.

"Seems they've taken over the city." Miguel deduced.

"Yeah. I'm seeing Badniks and more of those Public Eye jerks on patrol and attacking civilians in their way." Knuckles narrows his eyes, looking around the zone to see the Public Eye patrolling the Broadway while Badnik Hordes attack nearby Mobians and humans.

"Let's drive these boneheads out of the streets before we resume our hunt for the doctors." Miguel suggested, wanting to free the city from the Doctors' control first.

"I'm game!" Sonic revs up and speeds off with Tails flying behind. The two-tailed fox takes care of himself fighting off some Badniks like Mic Drops and Tubinauts while Sonic tackles several PE officers with his Spin Attacks, "P.E. You're under arrest for hating fun, lacking style, and being Grade-A jerks!" Two PE goons shoot at Sonic, but hedgehog protects himself with his Insta-Shield, a mid-air rapid spiral technique that he then uses to knock down several more officers.

Knuckles holds his own against some of the Public Eye's more brawler-type armored officers, but nonetheless able to dent their armor and knock them out within a few powerful punches, "You future cops don't scare me!" Knuckles taunted. He does get strike behind by an electric-baton wielding officer, but that only got him angry enough to one-punch him through several frail shop windows filled with TV sets.

Couple of scared civilians are backed walking behind to escape a slowly approaching Badnik Horde. Spidey 2099 quickly shows up to save the good people and does an upside roundhouse kick to knock back the Badniks, webbing them up for a slide kick under them before allowing his afterimages he quickly conjured up with his speed to finish them off. "Get to a safe place, everybody!" Miguel orders the civilians to run away while the heroes deal with the Doctors' army.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Team Sonic Racing OST-Narrative Cue: Threatening**

From afar on a rooftop, Heavy King uses his watchful eye observing the heroes doing battle against their enemies with a brooding, stone-cold demeanor, implying he's been keeping a close eye on them since everyone was transported away by the Phantom Ruby back at Green Hill. He stands before the rest of the Hard Boiled Heavies, thinking it's the right time to properly introduce themselves and show how much of a threat these Super-Badniks can be. With just one glare to the Heavy Gunner, he immediately scares the loose cannon to follow his orders and attack the heroes, watching him fly away to his helicopter and soar through the sky alongside three Egg-Robos.

**BGM End**

Meanwhile, Sonic was launched from a giant popcorn machine and transports himself through satellite dish-mounted vans to save more lives and continue being a big pain for Badniks. "Stop that hedgehog from causing a ruckus!" A squadron of PE officers are flying in their futuristic shuttles trying to shoot the speedy hedgehog running on a neon sparkling broadway.

Sonic chuckles as he easily runs around the bullet-fire with a cocky smile, "Never fought someone like me, haven't you, Public Eyesores!" He taunted them.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Hi-Spec Robo Go!**

Suddenly, two red missiles and one blue missiles shoots down the Police Shuttle, much to the surprise of the Public Eye riding it and Sonic. "We're going down! Brace for impact!" One officer shouted before the Shuttle crashes.

"What was that?" Sonic asked, then turns to face his answer. It's the Heavy Gunner and his Egg-Robo squad soaring through the sky chasing the hedgehog with his missile bazooka. "You're one of those upgraded Egg-Robos. The Hard Boiled Heavies, am I right? Finally decided to show up, eh? Alright. Bring it on!" Sonic challenged Heavy Gunner to a fight.

Heavy Gunner accepts the challenge by firing several erratic missiles on Sonic. The missiles were a bit tricky to dodge but nothing the hedgehog can't handle. He noticed one of the missiles were colored blue instead of the usual blue, giving him an idea how to attack. He uses one of his newest techniques, the Drop Dash, for this counterattack by simply performing a midair Spin Dash as he drops down to the ground and dashes forward in an instant burst of speed that rebounds the missile right back at Gunner. Heavy Gunner gets scared when he spots the missile flying right back at him, so in a cowardice move, he flies up to allow it to hit one of the Egg-Robos instead before flying back down when it's safe, wiping the sweat from his relieved forehead.

"A bit of an oddball you are." Sonic commented.

Heavy Gunner tries a different approach. When spotting civilians coming into view, he gleefully terrorizes them with his missiles, horrifying Sonic. The hedgehog quickly saves as many people as he could and takes them to a safe place while still chasing the enemy helicopter.

"Leave the people out of this, oddball!" Sonic scowled.

Another set of missiles was fired on the hero and managed to dodge all of them until he almost got hit by another blue missile. Thankfully coming to his rescue, Tails bounces on it and rebounds it back to Gunner, who again uses another Egg-Robo to take the hit. "Thanks for the save, little buddy!" Sonic gives his fox bro a thanking thumbs-up.

"No problem. Glad I showed up at the right time." Tails replied.

Heavy Gunner quickly turns into a nervous wreck when he notices the rest of Sonic's group have all caught up. He fires more missiles at the gliding Knuckles, but they quickly proved ineffective when the echidna drill-punches through them and punches the blue one at the last remaining Egg-Robo that accompanied the Super-Badnik, leaving him to Miguel's mercy when he suddenly dropped on top of the helicopter.

"You're in my way, rustbucket. I'm shutting you down." Miguel punches through the engine of the Helicopter, causing it to slowly descend as it blows up. Knowing he's outnumbered and outmatched, the scared Heavy Gunner was forced to flee from the scene before Miguel could properly dispose of him.

**BGM End**

"Jam! He got away!" Miguel swung back to Team Sonic's side.

"What's the deal with these Heavies? It's clear they're not working with Eggman or lady Ock." Sonic asked, taking note of the previous times they encountered the Heavies, how they disobeyed Eggman's orders to present him the Phantom Ruby and how the Heavy Gunner willingly attacked the Public Eye shuttle.

"The Phantom Ruby must've corrupted their programming when it activated the space-time field the first time, granting them free will along with an increase in power. They'll be drawn to its energy and want to retake the Ruby for their own destructive needs." Miguel explained, deducing from what he knows and seen until now.

"We know the Doctors already have the Ruby, but now we got to make sure those rouge Super-Badniks don't get it too?" Knuckles remarked.

"Don't forget about the Sinister Six." Tails reminded the echidna of the sinister villains from the future that are also after the Phantom Ruby, as well as the Chaos Emeralds.

"Great. How are we going to deal with all of them?" Knuckles asked, annoyed they have three distinct villainous factions all with the same goal of wanting to use the Phantom Ruby for world domination.

"You're our leader. You tell us." Sonic quipped.

"And as your leader, I'm telling you to think of a plan." Knuckles retorted, not liking the teasing.

"Same plan as always: Find them and give 'em a good 'ol smackdown." Sonic remarked, being so cocky as he thinks their opponents are a joke and can be beaten fairly easy.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Knuckles asked sarcastically.

"C'mon. Let's head into one of those TV studio buildings. Accelerated Vision's showing me a lot of activity going on in there." Miguel pointed, seeing a lot of Badnik activity inside the studio and leads the group inside.

* * *

**Inside the "Act 2" studio within Studiopolis Zone**

Following Miguel's lead, Team Sonic moves into a large television studio-like environment featuring unstable stage lights, electric cables, flappable panels that reveals words and phrases, and giant glass spheres that are designed like lottery machines.

"I'm definitely seeing a lot of Badniks and Public Eye, but no sign of Eggman or Ock anywhere." Sonic surveyed the area from a vantage point.

"Keep your eyes open. I'm sure one of them are nearby." Miguel instructed.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Prime Time**

Appearing from multiple TV screens with his signature laugh that surprises the heck out of the heroes, Eggman's figure is shown dominating the large screen in front of them with his likeness, _'Good afternoon, everybody! Welcome to Egg TV! This program is brought to you via satellite from the conquered Studiopolis Zone!'_

"And I already hate this channel." Miguel quipped as Eggman continues his broadcast across the world.

'_Today's special broadcast is about the plan to exterminate Team Sonic and Spider-Man as they come meet me in the Weather Simulator! And the reporter to report their demise is the world's most favorite idol, Dr. Eggman!' _Eggman tap-dances while holding a microphone and twirls towards the camera, _'Your hearts will be hooked on me, baby!'_

"Can we change the channel?" Tails asked Sonic as he's not a fan of the Eggman channel.

"Got a better idea. Let's go take it off the air by taking out its producer. He was already so kind telling us where to send out a complaint." Sonic quipped with a serious face, determined to liberate Studiopolis Zone from Eggman's control.

The heroes cause havoc through enemy hordes on their hunt for Eggman in this conquered studio. Spider-Man swings from the stage lights before using them as webbed-up projectiles down on the defenseless Public Eye and Badniks. Tails runs on a giant flywheel-like film reel before jumping up and flying over to destroy Shutterbugs and Wall Crawl robots. Knuckles runs around fighting until he accidently got zapped through an electrical cable tube that zips him through the zone screaming. Meanwhile, Sonic drops down from a funnel to have some fun on the lottery machine, dispensing four lottery balls that earned him dozens of rings before dropping down and continue his hunt for his nemesis.

**BGM End**

"This is it! This looks to be the Weather Simulator Room." Tails said as the gang finally entered the boss-battle room.

"We're here, Eggman! Where are you so we can embarrass you on live television?" Sonic joked.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Havoc Prognosis**

"Ohohohohoho!" Eggman's iconic laugh prompts the heroes to their guard as the widescreen television next to them turns on with the Egg TV logo, while Dr. Eggman himself enters the arena piloting a modified Egg Mobile called the "Weather Globe".

"The special guest stars have finally arrived! Hope everyone's tuned in to Egg TV, as I'm going to take these four OFF the air! Permanently!" Eggman smiles, pressing a button to summon three clouds that shoot bolts of lightning at the heroes.

"Haven't checked the ratings yet, Egghead? Your TV show made the fastest record of sucking in a short amount of time!" Sonic jumped up to attack Eggman three times while Spider-Man blinds the doctor with web shots.

"Once I destroy you, the ratings will be blown through the roof!" Eggman chuckled, pressing another button causing a powerful updraft that sweeps them off the floor towards the spikes on the ceiling. Sonic and Tails managed to save themselves by grabbing onto the poles while Knuckles holds onto Spider-Man's leg, as the webhead launched a webline to the floor to hold onto himself.

Once the windy updraft stopped, it was time for the heroes' counterattack consisting of Miguel distracting the doctor with a web barrage while Tails flies up and attacks him repeatedly. "Give it a rest, Doc. Even the worst TV shows in 2099 are more enjoyable than your show." Miguel mocked, firing a webline at the Egg Mobile and fiercely slams it to the ground, damaging it much to Eggman's frustration.

"Stop ruining my fun! Kids love watching mindless violence on-air despite what parents say so! I'm doing them a favor!" Eggman retorts, changing the weather to a heat condition causing large headlamps to drop down and radiate the majority of the room.

"This heat's unbearable!" Knuckles remarks, painfully feeling the heat alongside his friends.

"Looks like Eggman doesn't like it either." Sonic points to the sweaty Eggman also feeling the heat, stupidly descending the Weather Globe to give them an opportunity to finish him off.

"This might've been a bad idea…" Eggman remarks, very nervous and scared for doing a stupid move and giving the heroes the chance to defeat him. Spider-Man delivers a quick talon assault before allowing Sonic and Tails to give him their two cents before allowing Knuckles to punch Eggman out of the studio.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Act Clear**

"Egg TV's now off the air!" Sonic joked, seeing the weather forecast on TV get interrupted and transitioned to a buzzing test card, all while allowing Tails to free the flying Animal Capsule.

**BGM End**

"Didn't look like Eggman had the Phantom Ruby with him, so it must be with Patel." Miguel deduced, having not sensed the Phantom Ruby's energy from the egg doctor.

"It didn't look like she was around. I wonder where she could be?" Tails wondered about Patel's whereabouts.

Conveniently right on que, a news feed quickly appears on the giant monitor, showing a flying metal blimp soaring over the Zone as the banner on the monitor says "BREAKING! FLYING BATTERY RETURNS!"

"What's that?" Miguel wondered, obviously wasn't here when the Flying Battery first showed up terrorizing Angel Island.

Knuckles angrily scowls at the sight of the blimp that tried to destroy his home, "I recognize that ship! Eggman once used it to invade Angel Island!"

"The Flying Battery! Maybe Patel's up there! Let's go hop on!" Sonic leads the group outside the studio and manage to grab onto the blimp before it leaves the zone. Unaware to the heroes, Vulture 2099 spotted them hopping onto the blimp while hovering above Studiopolis. Sinisterly smiling, the futuristic cannibal flies off towards the blimp with a plan to destroy it and the heroes inside, all while holding a yellow Chaos Emerald he found in his claws.

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: I should point out in this series, Miguel O'Hara is considerably faster than Peter Parker, which is how he's able to create Accelerated Decoys. Just to let you all know that.**

**Next time: Vultering the Flying Battery!**

**Question of the Chapter: If you played Sonic Mania, who is your favorite Hard Boiled Heavy member?**

**BGM End **


	7. Issue 6: Bird of Prey

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Spider-Man 2099: The name's Miguel O'Hara. I'm the Spider-Man of the Year 2099. Just barely escaped from that exploding chemical plant and ended up somewhere in a city that's all about media and film production. We soon learned Eggman had taken control of the city and took him down, as well as one of those "Hard Boiled Heavies". Haven't found Patel yet, but maybe she's up in that flying blimp that's passing by. Wouldn't hurt to check and maybe blow it off the air if she's not around.**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Issue 6: Bird of Prey_

**Flying Battery Zone**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Flying Battery Zone (Act 1)**

High above the clouds over Angel Island is Eggman's famed airship armada, the Flying Battery. Team Sonic manage to catch a ride inside the massive flying vessel to continue their chase for the Doctors.

"Never thought I'd be here again so soon." Sonic looks around his familiar surroundings, having infiltrated Flying Battery not too long ago during Eggman's invasion on Angel Island.

Miguel picks up Patel's signal through Lyla and confirms, "I'm picking up Patel's signal. She's somewhere inside this outdated blimp."

"Then let's go find her and get back the Phantom Ruby!" Tails remarked, determined for this mission.

"And perhaps blow this ship sky high!" Knuckles added, ready to also destroy the Flying Battery before it could cause more harm to his island.

The heroes raid the flying fortress, fighting through hordes of enemy fire within the giant blimp. Miguel skydives down through a worm-like vertical shaft until he found an exit point, swing-kicking onto P.E. officers with the mobians not far behind him as they bounced down inside the vertical mesh tube. Five Blaster Badniks tries to live up to their namesakes but immediately got dizzy when Sonic zoom past them from a burst of speed. He alongside Tails and Knuckles led the forefront, dodging and destroying the Clucker robots in turrets shooting bullets at the intruders.

"This ship is a bit big for a blimp. Know any shortcuts around this place?" Miguel asked his friends, zipping up to meet up with Tails on a higher platform.

"Not at the moment. Some of the old routes seem remodeled or completely omitted and replaced with more booby-traps." Tails replied, flying over gunfire from the Public Eye until Knuckles promptly dealt with them.

"How dangerous is this ship?" Miguel asked curiously, web-striking a corrupt officer down.

"Eggman tried to carpet bomb us with it, right after he unleashed a Badnik horde that set a forest on fire." Sonic replied as the gang bounce outside to the sky deck.

"I'll never forgive Eggman for that." Knuckles growled, referring to when Eggman set fire to the jungle area of Angel Island the first time he showed up on the island.

"Dude, it was kinda your fault for working with him at the time." Sonic reminded the gullible echidna of being tricked to work with Eggman.

"SHUT UP! He promised he'd help me regrow the environment!" Knuckles retorted loudly.

"Into killer robot plants." Sonic quipped, teasing the angry echidna.

"Zip it, kids, before I throw you off the ship." Miguel chimed into the conversation while dodging missiles launched from the ship.

"Heh! I'll just glide right back." Knuckles remarked.

"Lyla, how close are we to Patel's location?" Miguel asked his AI.

'_Close, but be on the lookout for a Chaos Emerald. I'm picking up its energy signature rapidly approaching your location.' _Lyla informed the group of a Chaos Emerald present.

"Chaos Emerald? Where-?" Miguel turns around only to get knocked down by a sudden swooping wind that almost knocked the shocked Knuckles off the ship, but as he said, he was able to glide himself back to safety.

"See? Tol'ja. So what hit us?" Knuckles asked the future web-warrior scratching his head.

"Oh great, something tells me we just ran into that stupid bird-brain…" Miguel quipped, knowing the identity of his assailant.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic 3 and Knuckles OST-Act 1 Boss (Sonic & Knuckles)**

"Who you callin' stupid, insect?" Revealing himself is Vulture 2099 flying onto an upper platform above the heroes outside the blimp.

"Hey Vulture. You! And technically, spiders are arachnids." Spider-Man quipped, annoying his winged foe.

"Well, you're gonna be arach-DEAD." Vulture retorted, shooting rapid-fire talons from his claw weapons to attack the grounded heroes.

"I take it he's another member of the Sinister Six that got his claws on a Chaos Emerald?" Sonic asked the webhead while dodging Vulture's attacks.

"Pretty much." Miguel replied simply. While avoiding Vulture's shots, Miguel spots more missiles being launched from the blimp and uses them to his advantage, webbing them up and throwing them at Vulture, staggering him in the air. "What are you doing here, Vulture? Where's the rest of the Six?" Miguel asked, wanting to know about the Six's plans.

"Findin' the other Chaos Emeralds and the Phantom Ruby. I already found one, and it would seem the Ruby is somewhere in this ship. I'm gonna find it and then send this ship crashing into the sea!" Vulture stomped fiercely right on Sonic and Miguel, but they both managed to leap away from his stomp.

"Do that after WE take your emerald and the Ruby, okay birdy?" Sonic countered, hitting him in the face before bouncing above and spin-stomping his back, allowing Knuckles to brutally punch him back into the air.

"Annoying creatures!" Vulture dives in an instant burst of speed, tackling Sonic and Knuckles with his wings and almost knocked them off the blimp if it wasn't for Spider-Man saving them with his webbing. Tails uses his namesakes to attack Vulture, barely escaping his grasp to goad him into chasing him through the air.

"A little help! He's kinda gaining on me!" Tails request some immediate help, nervously seeing Vulture slowly approaching him.

"I'm gonna eat you!" The villainous cannibal threatened.

"Eat my foot, you starved moron!" Spidey zipped up to fiercely kick Vulture right on the teeth, bouncing off his body with a flip-kick while sending his Decoys to perform multiple swing-kicks before webbing him up and slamming him to a blitzing spin-attack from Sonic.

Weakened but not beaten, Vulture insist on continuing this fight, only for it to be interrupted by several hovercrafts piloted by the Public Eye, "You freaks are causing quite a ruckus up here! Stand down or we'll knock you off the air!" A P.E. officer threatened the heroes.

"You coppers won't stop me from blowing up this ship!" Vulture retreats from the battle to continue his mission destroying the Flying Battery, allowing himself to get chased by some of police hovercrafts.

"Wait!" Spidey tries to stop him, but he and his friends were under heavy fire from the remaining Public Eye and their hover vehicles, dodging them intensely.

"We need to get out of their sight!" Sonic said, dodging their attacks fretfully.

Some of the gunfire did destroy a hole into the ship that Tails quickly noticed, "In here!" He said, jumping into the hole with his friends to escape their power.

**BGM End**

Spider-Man covers the hole with enough webbing to prevent them from following them, "We should be safe down here." He said, while walking with his friends into a new room that soon becomes surrounded by an energy gate, revealing they walked right into a trap with blueprints of a mysterious spider-shaped mech on screens on the wall.

"Way to jinx it, Webs." Sonic joked.

"Hello there, my soon-to-be-crushed adversaries." From the other side of the force-field is Doc Ock 2099 tauntingly waving at her trapped enemies while standing next to a computer.

"There you are, Patel. Tell us what are you and Eggman planning to do with the Phantom Ruby?" Miguel asked, glaring at the madwoman.

"I thought we hinted at already we plan on a dimensional conquest of both dimensions, or did we not make myself clear?" Patel taunted.

"You did. But what we want to know is HOW. How do you plan on using the Ruby to conquer both dimensions?" Miguel asked, wanting a clear answer.

"I suppose I can give you another hint." Patel presses a switch on the computer that dumps the screaming heroes into a giant trash compactor piled up with scrap metal from various Badniks and other devices into even smaller blocks.

"We're gonna get dumped? Is that it? That doesn't make sense." Sonic quipped, standing up from this scrap heap.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Danger on the Dance Floor**

After they fell, the electromagnet on the ceiling activates, attracting pieces of the broken robots and turns them into functional Badniks for them to fight. "That electromagnet is reactivating some of the Badniks." Tails noted.

"Not for long!" Knuckles destroyed the reactivated Badniks with ease. As more robots are destroyed, the walls of the garbage pit slowly close to try and crush them.

"We're gonna get crushed!" Sonic noticed the closing walls surrounding them.

"Knuckles, stop! The more robots you destroy, the closer these walls will crush us!" Miguel commanded him to stand down. But even when Knuckles stopped, the walls continue to close with more Badniks being reanimated.

"I don't think it matters anymore. Patel's in control! She's trying to crush us!" Knuckles replies, going over to the closing wall and attempts to push it back or even punch through it with all his strength, but nothing seems to be stopping the Big Squeeze from squeezing them, "It's no good! We're trapped!"

"Maybe destroying that magnet will free us!" Tails pointed to the electromagnet on the ceiling.

"Worth a shot." Sonic attacks the magnet with a quick assault before Tails and Knuckles get some hits in.

The compactor is about a minute away from giving the heroes the big squeeze, making it a little harder to move inside with all the compact garbage. "Getting a bit hard to move in here, but I should be able to rip it down!" Spider-Man launches two weblines on the magnet, pulling with his strength to severely rip the thing right off the ceiling.

**BGM End**

The Big Squeeze was stopped in time from fully crushing them and prevented more reanimated Badniks to return. "Awesome! It was getting a little cramped in here!" Sonic joked, happy they destroyed the trap. While the heroes did stop the compactor, it still managed to compress enough of its scrap to deposit both it and them from the Flying Battery, out into the sudden storm with thunder, rain and lightning that frightens Tails.

"AH! LIGHTNING!" Tails yelled while everyone else simply screams for their lives.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Flying Battery Zone (Act 2)**

Spider-Man quickly shoots out a webline to swing himself to safety while Tails and Knuckles glide to a safe spot. Extremely fortunate for Sonic, he was saved in the last moment by a crate mover, moving him to a safe platform that leads them back inside the ship. Miguel sighs in relief they narrowly avoided getting dumped off the ship, "Lucky for you that crate mover was in the way or else you would've plummeted to the earth." He said to Sonic.

As the group regather their bearings, they felt the whole ship shook from a loud explosion that sounded like someone attacked the engine. "What was that?! Is the thunderstorm tearing this ship apart?!" Sonic asked, crouching to keep himself steady.

"Either that or Vulture took out one of the engines! We gotta stop him before he causes the whole ship to crash!" Miguel responded, wanting to stop Vulture first before hunting down Patel.

"Isn't that what we were going to do?" Knuckles remarked as their plan was to also destroy the Flying Battery.

"Not with us in it or a proper way to escape!" Miguel replied.

"Good point." Knuckles understood.

Outside in this dark and stormy weather, Vulture 2099 is seen fighting against more Public Eye and Badnik Hordes wanting to give him a bad time, but he doesn't want any of it and destroys his enemies with his claws and wing-tackles. With resistance temporarily out of the way, Vulture was free to destroy another engine of the Flying Battery, slowly causing the large ship to descend and possibly crash if he destroys all the engines.

"Two down, two more to go." Vulture smiled in sinister delight of his accomplishments.

"Surprised you're smart enough to count." Spider-Man suddenly shows up kicking Vulture in the chest and flipping away from his claws to land next to his friends on a circular arena surrounded by Electrical conduits.

"Give it up, Vulture! Hand over that Chaos Emerald!" Sonic demanded.

Vulture holds out his yellow emerald and shouts, "Never! I found this fair and square! You punks were lucky the Public Eye came to your rescue last time before I stomped ya!"

"Rescue us? Sure didn't feel like it with all the shooting." Miguel quipped.

"Keep joking, bug, as I SQUASH YA!" Vulture powers himself up with the Chaos Emerald's energy, enveloping his body in a yellow aura and ready to use his newfound power against the heroes.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Spider-Man Unlimited Game OST-Boss!**

"Ahahaha! Time to teach you punks a lesson! Only I get to rule the skies!" Vulture fires several feathers at the heroes from the distance, prompting them to go on the defensives. This gave him the chance to swoop in with a speedy tackle, but Miguel saw through this tactic and used an Accelerated Decoy to trick him to attack.

"You're grounded!" Miguel fires several weblines on the aerial villain and quickly slams him onto the ground to receive a good beatdown from Knuckles before Spidey web-strikes him and uppercutted him to Sonic's axe kick.

"AaaaRAAAAAAGH! You're gonna pay for that!" Vulture roared, flapping his wings rigorously to unleash blinding wind currents to blow away the heroes off the ship. Miguel grabs Tails as he clings onto the floor, while Knuckles grabs ahold of Sonic as he digs his fist into the floor. Once Vulture got tired flapping his wings, the clinged heroes fiercely threw Sonic and Tails in their spinball form at him, making him even madder.

"I AIN'T DONE WITH YOU YET!" Vulture unleashes a windy vortex surrounding him almost flinging Sonic and Tails to one of the active electrical conduits if the latter didn't fly and save the hedgehog.

"Careful! When those electrical conduits flicker, you'll be in for a shock!" Tails warned him, which actually gives Sonic an idea.

"Oh really?" Sonic smirks, getting an idea. He turns to see Vulture continuing the fight against Spider-Man and Knuckles and shouts to get his attention, "Hey, dummy bird! You say you rule the skies but I say Tails deserves that title! Unlike you, he doesn't NEED a handicap to fly! He's a natural!" Sonic taunts, ticking off the winged cannibal.

"What you say?!" Vulture roars, flying at his best speed towards the flying nervous Tails and the grinning Sonic.

"Move, Tails!" Sonic instructed.

Quickly, Tails flew themselves away just as Vulture tackles nothing but the activated electrical conduits, generating enough electricity at the right interval that excruciatingly shocks him to the point of smelling like burnt turkey. Vulture screams as he plummets off the ship while accidently dropping letting go of his Chaos Emerald for Sonic to catch for the team.

"The dumper they are, the harder they fall." Miguel quips about Vulture's defeat.

**BGM End**

"That's two Chaos Emeralds with two of the Six knocked out!" Sonic smiled, happy for their victory for retrieving another emerald from the Sinister Six.

"Great! Now let's see if Patel would be as kind with the Phantom Ruby!" Miguel replied, wanting a little payback for Patel literarily dropping them to the trash earlier.

The heroes continue traveling through the partially-destroyed Flying Battery, slowly losing altitude thanks to Vulture destroying some of the engines. Eventually, the group arrived at a lift that is quickly closed off by another set of energy gates.

"Is this another trap?" Knuckles wondered.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Ruby Delusions**

Suddenly, Ock 2099 loudly drops into the arena in a modified "Octo" Mobile resembling an arachnid, from a retractable cord from its abdomen, allowing to hang from ceilings like an actual spider, **"Does this answer your question? I must thank you for getting rid of that disruptor, Vulture, for me. I worked hard making modifications to the Flying Battery and I'm late to an appointment with Dr. Eggman." **Patel taunts her opponents politely as the elevator lift rises seemingly endlessly.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" Miguel quipped about her Spider Mobile.

"**You will, and you'll be **_**shocked **_**to see what this mech can do."** Patel fires several electricity balls from its pincers at the heroes.

"Cute pun. Let me show you what I can do." Sonic grinned, rocketing a Spin Attack on the body designed like a Bumper, which was designed to repel blunt attacks but was slightly propelled to the side, but in the end, it didn't damage the Spider Mobile at all.

"**Foolish hedgehog. This mech is invulnerable. You can't defeat me." **Patel arrogantly proclaims, shooting Sonic with her electric orbs.

"I doubt that." Miguel mumbles. As the lift continues to rise, the spider notices they're approaching a row of spikes on both sides on the walls, giving him an idea. "Got it. Knuckles! Punch her with enough force to those spikes, and hurry!" Miguel ordered her.

Knuckles rushes towards the mech as he's told, using his incredible strength to punch the bumper body with enough force to propel her away at great distance to the spike wall, damaging the mech much to Patel's surprise. **"What?! You can't have hurt me!" **She remarked.

"We have! Now give us a real hint what you and Eggman are up to?" Miguel demanded another hint of their ultimate goal with the Phantom Ruby, dodging the barrage of electricity from the Spider Mobile.

"**You want another hint?! Fine! We are in the process of creating the ultimate machine of past and future! The likes of which both our worlds haven't witnessed yet!" **Patel hinted.

"Whatever it is, we'll come find it and trash it before it's complete!" Sonic remarked, using a spinning pole to gain the propulsion power to launch himself along with Tails to propel the mech into another role of spikes.

"**You don't even know where it's being built!" **Patel fires a stream of electricity the duo barely jumped over.

"How 'bout give us another hint?" Sonic quipped.

"**That's enough questions for today!" **Patel retorted, now annoyed.

"I agree!" Miguel slingshot himself from his makeshift web slingshot and dropkicks onto the bumper, packing enough force to knock the Spider Mobile to its destruction onto another set of spikes.

"**NOOOO! I gotta get out of here!" **Patel escapes the destruction of her mech using a jetpack as the elevator finally reaches the top.

**BGM End**

"Get back here, Patel!" Miguel goes for a webline in hopes of catching Patel, but she already escaped from his reach to the next zone. "Shock! She got away again! That woman's starting to get on my nerves." He commented.

"At least we saved the animals trapped in the Capsule. That counts for something." Tails said to cheer him up, showing Knuckles freeing a plethora of animals from a capsule.

"I suppose your right. And we do have a hint of what the doctors are planning, though it's starting to sound like the future is in grave danger much bigger than what Silver told me." Miguel replied, not losing hope just yet.

"Then let's hurry to the next Zone and prevent that badder future. Patel says she's meeting with Eggman. Let's see if we can catch up with her using those convenient Hang Gliders lying over there." Sonic points to four Hang Gliders onboard the blimp.

And a good thing they were left there, as the Flying Battery is starting to explode from all the havoc caused by them, Vulture, and the fight against Patel after her Spider Mobile was destroyed. "This ship's going to crash! Let's get out of here!" Knuckles commanded. The group of heroes use the Hang Gliders and ride them down to the Zone where the Flying Battery was going to rendezvous with Dr. Eggman, Press Garden Zone.

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: I want to update everyone on something. Originally, I said "Mania Mayhem" was the start of the Phantom Ruby Saga. After some thought regarding the next story after this, I decided "Cyber Metal Madness" to be the start of the Phantom Ruby Saga, also now known as the "Infinity Trilogy". Cyber Metal Madness was the first story in the trilogy. Mania Mayhem is the middle story. And lastly the next story, "Ends of the Earth", will be the last story in the Infinity Trilogy.**

**Next time: Which is heavier in a press factory: The Rhino of 2099 or the Heavy Shinobi (This is not a serious question)?**

**Question of the Chapter: What are your opinions on the Spider-Man Unlimited cartoon show, which was originally going to be a Spider-Man 2099 show?**

**BGM End**


	8. Issue 7: Blossom Haze

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Classic Sonic: I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog. The gang and I hopped onboard Eggman's rebuilt Flying Battery as we continue the hunt for the Doctors and the Phantom Ruby. We crossed paths with Vulture several times until he clucked his wings and got our second Chaos Emerald. Then we fought Patel in her spider mech. She mentioned they're creating the "ultimate machine of past and future". Not sure what that means, but it doesn't sound good. Maybe we'll learn something over at this new Zone.**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Issue 7: Blossom Haze_

**Over Press Garden Zone…**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Tabloid Jargon**

After causing the Flying Battery to crash, Team Sonic flew above a green forest in an unknown island using Hang Gliders chasing Serena Patel, who quickly evaded their sight as they have no idea where she went.

"Darn! Where did that Ock woman go? She couldn't have gotten that far, unless she escaped using the Phantom Ruby." Knuckles complained, looking left and right for any sign of Patel's whereabouts.

"Spider-Man. Can't you find her using your Accelerated Vision?" Tails asked the spider with the enhanced vision, capable of seeing at much greater distances with perfect clarity.

"No. She's long gone. But I am seeing a castle two miles from here. Maybe that's where she's meeting with Eggman." Miguel spots an ancient castle coming into view.

"That looks like a good hiding spot to do evil things. Let's go check it out." Sonic leads the team to the mysterious castle up ahead.

Above an entrance hole of the castle, the heroes jump off their Gliders to land inside an old printing press factory with everything a factory would have like wooden crates and conveyor belts. "This isn't a castle. It's a newspaper factory!" Tails realized.

"What's a newspaper?" Miguel asked genuinely.

"Seriously? You're from the future and you don't know what newspapers are?" Sonic quipped.

"We don't use 'newspapers' anymore. We can read or watch the news from holo-screens connected to the news server anywhere on the planet with our Tranvers or Galaxy-XGs." Miguel explained.

"And what are those?" Sonic asked, raising an eyebrow from the unfamiliar names, "Tranvers" and "Galaxy-XGs".

"Personal mobile terminal devices." Miguel answered.

"So cell phones?" Sonic remarked.

"What are cell phones?" Miguel replied with a confused look on his face, in which Sonic simply responds with a tired sigh to the future man.

The gang explore the factory for a bit to find anything interesting, like the newspapers being printed out having their faces and the Phantom Ruby included on them. "The Daily Egg? Look at the propaganda being printed about us." Tails said, reading one of the newspapers in his hands.

"This is such fake news. 'Local Hedgehog and Friends Body Shames and Harasses Local Genius, Evil Mastermind, and Handsome Dr. Eggman. Public Enemies No. 1'? He HAS to be kidding himself." Sonic gives a blank stare at the newspaper before casually throwing it for Knuckles to read.

"Who would believe this garbage?" Knuckles asked while reading the fake news.

"You'd be surprised. A century ago in my world, there was this publisher of the Daily Bugle that spouted MASSIVE lies branding the original Spider-Man a menace, and people believed that." Miguel talked to him about J. Jonah Jameson, the extremely biased publisher of the past.

"Oh yeah. I remember that guy. He was that ungrateful pickle puss we saved during our time traveling adventure and somehow blamed US for unleashing a time-eating monster. Can't imagine that guy ever becoming mayor. I would feel so bad for the other Spidey." Sonic replied, eternally grateful his world doesn't have an angry close-minded man like JJ.

"I already get enough flak from my world. Don't need to hear more from another dimension. I'm gonna give the stern publisher a piece of my mind." Miguel crumbles up his newspaper and throws it fiercely at a Splat robot, dizzying it.

"And wreck his fake news machines as we find him?" Sonic grinned to the spider-hero.

"That would be a blessing." Miguel smirked, behind his mask.

Sonic chuckles as the gang speeds off through the zone destroying Eggman's propaganda equipment. Sonic smashes through every machine and Badniks printing lies about them. Tails does the same thing but got caught by the Public Eye Replicas in the area. "What do you think you're doing?! This expensive equipment isn't to be played with by a child!" A P.E. agent berated the fox cub.

"I'm sure he's more than capable handling them than you brainless chumps!" Miguel swung in fighting the Public Eye, destroying more fake news during the fight with some assistance from Knuckles, who throws heavy crates at them and the machines causing them to explode.

**BGM End**

Once all the present propaganda machines were destroyed, the heroes regroup for a job well done. "Destroy all the propaganda?" Miguel asked his teammates.

Sonic replies by giving him a thumbs-up with a smile, "Yup. That should tell Eggman he's a terrible publisher." He joked.

Out of nowhere, the entire floor beneath them shook intensely as if the whole factory got hit by an earthquake. "An earthquake?!" Tails remarked, feeling the loud rumbling.

Miguel replies, "I don't think it's a normal OOOOOONE!" He shouted as the floor they are standing on collapses from the quake causing them to fall into a room full of crates.

"What was that all about?" Knuckles stood up, holding his aching head.

"I think someone else is here. Someone rushing towards this location and wrecking everything in their sight. I can feel loud footsteps approaching." Miguel felt, sensing someone powerful is rampaging their way through the newspaper factory, destroying everything in sight.

"**OUTTA MY WAY! OUTTA MY WAY!" **Smashing into the crate room with his large pointy horn is the mechanical Rhino 2099, rampaging through the crates and almost unknowingly right at the heroes.

"WHOA!" Miguel yipped, narrowly jumping away from Rhino's rampage alongside his friends.

Rhino growls, scowling as he turns to confront his enemies, **"There you are!"**

"That's a pretty big Super-Badnik." Sonic quipped while confronting the 8-foot tall rhino robot, towering over the 3-foot hedgehog and friends.

"It's not a Super-Badnik. It's a rhino android from my world that works with the Sinister Six. So what's your story, big guy? Ran away from the robot petting zoo?" Miguel jokingly asked the Rhino.

"**Yeah. Then got hit by a wrecking ball and made me mad and smashed up the place! Now I just want to WRECK stuff, like all of Eggman's factories and find a shiny gem for Goblin!" **Rhino explained his backstory briefly, showing the heroes the turquoise Chaos Emerald he found for the Sinister Six.

"How about we offer you a trade?" Sonic asked.

"**Trade?" **Rhino scratched his dummy head.

"You give us the emerald and we'll allow you to wreck all of Eggman's factories. Deal?" Sonic proposed.

**BGM-Spider-Man Unlimited Game OST-Boss!**

"**NO DEAL!" **Rhino shouted, lifting up a large crate threatening to throw it at them,** "What do you think?! I'm stupid?!"**

"Well you are built stupid." Spider-Man quips, webbing up Rhino's face forcing him to drop the crate. Spider-Man jumps into the air web-swinging around Rhino while he's blinded, firing web-bullets that are very ineffective against his seemingly indestructible body. "History says the original Rhino was one of Spider-Man's stronger opponents, but not among the brightest! Seems like history wants to repeat itself now in the form of a rhinoceros-bot!" He joked until Rhino ripped the webbing from his eyes then sends him packing to the wall with one powerful swing from his punch.

Team Sonic joined the fight, unleashing an all-out assault against the unstoppable robot charged up with a Chaos Emerald but was quickly repelled after their attacks just tickled and annoyed him. **"Outta my way, pipsqueaks!" **Rhino rampages in a straight line with his horn sticking out up front.

"Stop with the rampaging, hornhead!" Knuckles tries his hand to halt his rampage by grabbing the horn, but even he was powerless trying to slow him down and was quickly thrown to a crater in the wall he created from the impact. Knuckles grunts from the pain he's feeling, "Stupid, but man, he's strong!"

"That doesn't mean he's invincible! Look!" Tails was in the air when he spots Rhino's weakspot, a damaged hole on his back, "That must be the area where he said he got hit by a wrecking ball! We can target there!"

"Go for it! I'll keep him distracted! Shouldn't be too hard!" Sonic revs up and circles in a blue blur repeatedly around Rhino's large feet.

"**I'm confused! What are you doing?" **Rhino asked, oblivious to their plan.

Spider-Man swings around webbing Rhino's hands together while Tails attacks his head. Meanwhile, Knuckles targets the hole on his back and ruthlessly punches it repeatedly, not letting up until Rhino is on his knees in pain. **"Stop! That hurts! AAAAAAARGH!" **Rhino gives out a loud yell, unleashing a powerful shockwave that knocks the heroes away from him.

Meanwhile, one of Eggman's Super-Badniks robot guards have been activated from all the commotion happening in the Zone. It's Shiversaw, a flying robot that attacks and defends itself with its ice saws. It sees the fighting between Rhino and the heroes and decided to intervene in the name of Eggman, targeting its sawblades at Sonic, Rhino and Spider-Man.

"Great! It's not like we had our hands full with rhino-butt!" Sonic joked, dodging the sawblades launched in his direction.

"But it is keeping Rhino distracted. Maybe I can throw it at his weakspot and be done with this sooner!" Miguel spins several weblines attached onto Shiversaw, using the strength to lift 10 tons to pull the security robot into Rhino's back, hoping to destroy them both at the same time.

"**Nope! Not as stupid as you think!" **Rhino saw through this tactic and pierces the robot with his horn, destroying it.

"Shock." Miguel cursed.

"That's okay! It gave ME the chance to deliver the final blow!" Knuckles shouted a battle-cry, leaping towards the distracted Rhino's back and deliver a full-powered punch that smashes through his hole and defeating him.

**BGM End**

"**Oh crud! AAAAAAAAAAAGH!" **Rhino exploded alongside Shiversaw as their destruction upon their defeat envelops Eggman's factory. The heroes found cover behind Miguel's web-shield but was still blown away from the explosion as everything goes white.

Everything was silent for a moment until the bright light slowly vanished from sight. Eggman's factory was completely destroyed as well as Shiversaw, while Rhino's body somehow survived his own explosion and slumped into shutdown mode, completely inactive. The light blue emerald he was holding rolled on the new snowy ground towards four snow stumps beneath the snow.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Blossom Haze**

Sakura leaves fell from the sky onto the stumps, quickly popping their heads revealing themselves to be Team Sonic and Spider-Man's after they miraculously survived the destruction of the factory.

"I don't know how the heck we survived that, but hey, I'm not complaining." Knuckles remarked from their lucky survival, even picked up the third Chaos Emerald that rolled next to him and smiled, "We even picked up a Chaos Emerald for our luck."

"Forget about that. Look where we are…" Sonic said, being amazed of their new surroundings in a surreal winter wonderscape within a Japanese garden outside the castle. An area filled with cherry blossoms and ancient architecture.

"With Eggman's factory destroyed, we returned this Zone back to its true beauty. A winter wonderland!" Tails smiled, stunned and happy standing in true beauty.

Miguel is probably the most amazed of Press Garden's true beauty as he never been to a place like this from his world, "Wow…This place is beautiful…The architecture and the snow…I wonder if my world has a place like this."

"Maybe go on a world trip with the family to find out." Sonic recommended.

"Maybe, but I don't think that's a good idea." Miguel replied.

"Why?" Sonic asked curiously.

"As you know, my father is the big jerk that started this whole dimensional mess for a profit, and my relationship with my mother is strained at best. She would probably make me pay for the trip and still ask me for money." Miguel answered, explaining his family issues to him.

"Sorry to hear that. I'm sure things will get better for you." Sonic said, cheering up the future spider-hero.

"Thanks. I can probably go on a trip with my brother and girlfriend. Of course, I need to be home to do that, and the only way to GET home is with the Phantom Ruby, which we still haven't found yet." Miguel replied, still with the mindset of stopping the Doctors and retrieving the Phantom Ruby.

'_Lucky for you, I'm picking up the Phantom Ruby's energy signature nearby. It seems to be in the possession of Dr. Eggman.' _Lyla informed her owner and friends.

"Thanks for cheering me up with the news, Lyla." Miguel responded.

'_But I should warn you one of the Hard Boiled Heavies have also been spotted in the Zone, so be careful.' _Lyla warned the group.

"That Heavy should be the one that needs to be careful when we find it!" Knuckles grinned, tapping his fists together in the mood for some action.

As the team explore the Zone in search for Eggman and a Heavy, they have a little fun on the way too. Spider-Man slides down an icy ramp that jumps him into the air, transitioning to glide over his obstacles and the occasional enemy fire. Tails flies around, happily observing a wood-cutting machine that's grinding up tree logs into wood chippings after they were shredded down completely. Sonic jumps off an Ice Spring that immediately disintegrated into nothing after one use. Sonic took note of this until he worriedly noticed he landed below a ceiling Snowblower, freezing him into a block of chilling ice that sends him sliding towards Knuckles' direction, who just got done beating down several P.E. officers before he humorously got knocked into the air when Sonic rammed him.

**BGM End**

"WAAAAAAAAH!" Knuckles landed screaming in an arena in Press Garden, at the same time meeting up with Sonic who broke free from his icy predicament by colliding with a wall. Knuckles shouts at him angrily saying, "Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry, sorry." Sonic sheepishly smiles, chuckling.

Spider-Man and Tails reunited with the two with an update coming from Lyla, _'The Heavy's signal should be right above you.'_

"I don't see anything." Tails looked up but couldn't find the particular Heavy anywhere in the sky.

Miguel certainly does thanks to his Accelerated Vision and picks up an incoming blurry attack about strike the both of them, "I do! Get back!"

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Hi-Spec Robo Go!**

Miguel leaped back grabbing Tails' arm away from the Heavy Shinobi surprise ninja sword attack. The Heavy Shinobi acts like a true ninja, holding his entire weight with just one foot. "Saw your attack coming a mile away! You're here for the Phantom Ruby, am I right?" Miguel asked, receiving an answering nod from the Shinobi. "Too bad! You're not getting it!"

Calm yet irritated, Heavy Shinobi throws multiple Asterons from his one hand like their shurikens at Spider-Man and Tails. They both use their respective reflexes to dodge his weapons, but because they avoided them, they stuck to the surface they hit instead. As Asteron robots do, after a few seconds, they self-detonate, causing them to release spikes in multiple directions that almost pierce Tails and Miguel if they didn't dodge yet again.

Sonic charges up and launches a Spin Dash at the seemingly distracted Heavy Shinobi, only to get swiftly counterattacked by his sword and instantly frozen into an ice-cube again. Knuckles tries to attack Shinobi instead but missed, so he goes back to punch Sonic out of his ice prison instead. "That sword looks to freeze anyone or anything it touches." He told the unfrozen, shivering Sonic.

Sonic quips, "Keen observation. Let's be careful not to touch it."

Spider-Man unleashes a web barrage Shinobi impressively cuts each and every single one with his ice sword, almost like an actual ninja. Spider-Man tries to web-yank his sword away, but the moment his web touches it, it turns to ice. "That's not going to work." Miguel said, before dodging another thrown Asteron. "Anyone got ideas how to bypass his defensives?" He asked for assistance.

"It's a robot ninja. We can't just attack him recklessly. We should slow down and be patient, waiting for the right moment to strike." Tails suggested, flying away from more shurikens.

"You're asking ME to slow down? That's more challenging than robo-ninja here." Sonic joked, repeatedly tapping his impatient foot.

Heavy Shinobi jumps into a Spin Jump-like arc to spread his reach with his shurikens, but as Sonic quickly took the time and patience to observe, it looks like this is the right moment to strike him. "Wait. Ah HA! That's when you're vulnerable!" Sonic attacks the Heavy while it was in midair, stunning it to the ground for a few seconds. "Whaddya know? Being patient has its advantages after all." He grinned, watching Knuckles go ham on the stunned Heavy, smashing it towards a web-strike kick from Spider-Man and a tails strike from Tails.

Feeling the damage from his untrained opponents, Heavy Shinobi gets serious. He stands in place as he spins around unleashing shurikens into all directions, knocking everyone but Spider-Man back thanks to his incredible reflexes and Accelerated Vision. He slides under the Super-Badnik and bounce-kicks off his back landing across him. The two share a silent staredown, accompanied with Miguel taunting him to attack with a glaring hand gesture. Heavy Shinobi takes the bait, taking out his ice sword as he moves faster than the eye can see to execute Spider-Man with a single, impossibly fast strike. Thinking he won, Shinobi turns around into complete shock when the Spider-Man he slashed was just an Accelerated Decoy.

"Didn't see that, huh?" Miguel appeared behind Shinobi and finishes him off with a devastating uppercut, "Just call me the 'Spider-Ninja'! You lose!" He mocked.

Knowing he has lost this fight, Heavy Shinobi jumps away from the arena and escapes to parts unknown, silently declaring a rematch the next time they meet. "He got away." Miguel noted, freeing the animals from a nearby Capsule in the meantime.

"Eh. We'll kick it's butt the next time it does a ninja appearance. With it gone, we can focus finding Eggman. Where he is, Lyla?" Sonic asked the AI.

'_Not that far. In fact, just turn around.' _Lyla said, directing them to Eggman working behind them the entire time. It appears the mad doctor was quite busy during the fighting, working on a computer trying to locate, or perhaps contact, a certain metal blue hedgehog on a familiar mechanized small planet chained to the planet's surface.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Blossom Haze**

"Eggman!" Sonic shouts, startling the surprised doctor to face them.

"Oh, Sonic. Didn't see you there." Eggman said, finally noticing the heroes.

Sonic narrows his eyes to the holo-screen where Eggman is working at, "What are you working on? Is that…Little Planet? Mechanized and chained to the surface again?" He gives his nemesis a serious glare that demands some answers of his plan.

"That's right, my furry nuisance. I brought it back to Mobius using the space-time power of the Phantom Ruby to once again be my primary base of operation." Eggman smiled evilly, revealing the Phantom Ruby in his possession.

"Give it back, Eggman! I'm not going to allow you to conquer Little Planet again for your own little schemes!" Sonic scowled.

"Heh. Little. If you want to save Little Planet, I won't stop you. In fact, let me take you there. Back to its distant past!" Eggman uses the Phantom Ruby's power to activate a space-time field around the heroes, warping the surprised group in a bright light that seems to teleport them to Little Planet.

**BGM End**

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: As far as I've researched, there is no actual Rhino 2099 in the 2099 universe, so consider this one an original character. We're approaching the halfway mark of this story. Hope you're enjoying it so far.**

**Next time: Speedy rematch on the shocking speedways!**

**Question of the Chapter: If you're familiar with the 2099 universe, what original 2099 version of your favorite Spider-Man character that HASN'T appeared in anything 2099-related do you want to see? Like a Carnage 2099 for example. Hypothetically speaking.**

**BGM End**


	9. Issue 8: Toot Toot Mania Warriors

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Spider-Man 2099: The name's Miguel O'Hara. I'm the Spider-Man from the Year 2099. Is this what the people of the past call 'newspapers'? So low-tech, but Eggman was printing them out in his factory as propaganda to make us look bad. Of course, who would be stupid enough to believe him? We trashed his factory anyways. Even ran into that robot Rhino with another Chaos Emerald and another member of the Hard Boiled Heavies before locating Eggman. What are you working on, Doc? Is that Little Planet where you're keeping your secret weapon? Hey, where are you taking us this time?!**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Issue 8: Toot Toot Mania Warriors_

**Stardust Speedway (Past), Little Planet**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Stardust Speedway Zone (Act 1)**

A space-time warp opens within a large orchestra-themed palace covered with plants, the Past of Stardust Speedway, located in the fabled Little Planet. Team Sonic and Spider-Man drop safely from the warp in this past version of this firefly-lit marble cityscape.

"I'm really gettin' tired being teleported all over the world by the Phantom Ruby. I swear, Alchemax's new invention is becoming such a pain." Sonic crossed his arms complaining, while repeatedly tapping his impatient foot.

"Welcome to my world. But if I have to be fair for once, if it wasn't for Alchemax, I wouldn't be Spider-Man today." Miguel said, giving a small hint about his origins.

"Cool backstory. Where are we?" Knuckles asked rudely, more interested about his new surroundings than Miguel's backstory.

"We're in Little Planet." Sonic answered.

"Little Planet? You mean the place you and Eggman were talking about?" Knuckles replied.

"Yeah. It's a small world that appears over Never Lake once a year. Eggman tried to conquer this place a while back, but that was a few months ago. It's a little too early for Little Planet to be back so soon." Sonic explained, briefing his rival of the miracle planet.

"Remember, Eggman said he used the Phantom Ruby to distort space and time and brought it back to the surface." Tails reminded.

"And used its power to reconquer it in his image." Sonic added with an annoyed expression.

"Don't forget Patel is in on this. They must have brought this world back to be used as their secret hideout." Miguel also said, reminding them of Patel's involvement.

"Then what are we standing around here for? We're at their secret base. Let's go take them out." Knuckles said, eager to defeat the Doctors as soon as possible.

"Easier said than done, Knuckles. They could be in any Zone of Little Planet. Most likely Metallic Madness, but we're stuck in the past version of Stardust Speedway. This world has some very strange time gimmicks that gives me a headache, allowing you to travel between past and future." Sonic explained, explaining more about Little Planet's strange time abilities.

"So how are we gonna get back to the present then?" Knuckles asked.

"We can either find the Time Stones, which will take too long, or we can use the Time Warp Plates, which is my preferred method traveling through time." Sonic replied, wanting to use a Time Warp Plate to travel into the future.

"Time travel. Y'know with all the weird stuff that's happened today, I would almost not believe you." Knuckles remarked with a tired stare at the blue hedgehog.

"Not seeing anything but a lot of plants, Badniks, and Public Eye patrolling the field." Miguel scanned, using his Accelerated Vision.

"There's gotta be one somewhere. Split up and find a signpost that says 'Future' on it. That's our ticket home." Sonic ordered, splitting up the group to search for a Time Warp Plate.

Tails flies above the Zone for any sign of a time signpost but couldn't find squat after a minute of searching, "No good. I can't find any. Any better luck, guys?" He asked his friends.

Knuckles was gliding over the area until his eyes spotted a Capsule below, "That looks suspicious." He drops down to destroy the capsule, thinking it would release the trapped animals. Instead, the capsule scattered flowers, much to his confusion, "Flowers?" Suddenly, Knuckles found himself tripping on a rising giant leaf from a growing Beanstalk with a bio-mechanical carnivorous plant trying to eat him, "That's not a time post!" He shouted, jumping over the plant's sharp teeth.

Miguel swings to his area to scan the more normal Little Planet flowers for details, "Interesting. These flowers are emitting low-level concentrations of quantum energy that can be used as a power source. Must be because of the weird time flow radiating Little Planet's environment." He studied, which explains why Eggman use the flowers to power up his Badniks during his first conquest of Little Planet.

"That's great, Spidey, but can you tell us where we can find a Time Warp? They shouldn't be this hard to find." Sonic zoomed around the Zone, effortlessly knocking down enemy troops while searching for a Time Warp Plate but couldn't, much to his frustration.

"Maybe my Accelerated Vision could find the right one. If they're anything like these flowers, they should be emitting a considerable amount of time energy for me to trace and follow. If the energy is moving forward, it leads to the future. If it moves backwards, it goes to the past." Miguel explained, planning to use his Accelerated Vision to find the right time warp back to the present.

"You can…see that? That is some VERY good eye-sight." Knuckles remarked, underestimating the futuristic Spider-Man's abilities a bit.

Miguel follows through with his plan, scanning the Zone with his Accelerated Vision for a Future Time Plate. After a few seconds of searching, he successfully managed to find the one they are looking for next to the orchestra palace. "Over there! Next to that palace!" He pointed.

"Your Accelerated Vision is one AWESOME spider power, even though it doesn't make any sense at all." Sonic smiled.

**BGM End**

The heroes rush towards the Future Time Plate with a chance to travel back to the present, but as they get closer Miguel sees something else approaching, "Hold up! There's another energy about to strike, and it looks VERY familiar." He stopped the group just before a blue lightning bolt struck the ground, revealing to be born from the robotic lightning bolt himself, Electro 2099.

**BGM-Spider-Man Unlimited Game OST-Gameplay 2099**

"**There you are, fleshies! I've been looking ALL over for you!" **Electro greeted his organic enemies.

"The android, Electro!" Miguel confronted the shocking android.

"I remember him. How ya been, sparkplug? I see you've been rebuilt after the trashing we gave ya at that carnival park!" Sonic smirked, referencing the Generations adventure Electro has no memory of because time travel.

"**What are you talking about? I haven't seen you in my life!" **Electro retorted.

"How the shock did you find us in the past of Little Planet?" Miguel asked the more important question to their predicament.

Electro chuckles sinisterly as he shows them the blue Chaos Emerald he found for himself, **"Used this little gem to find the ones you have, then used one of those weird signposts that took me here."**

"Now that's a shock." Sonic joked.

"**You shocking right it's a shock. Now I'm going to shock YOU! Hope you brought your rubber booties!" **Electro threatened, charging himself with the emerald's power to boost himself immensely.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Spider-Man Unlimited Game OST-Boss!**

The energy android boasts his newfound power by unleashing a massive energy beam to the sky, electrifying the clouds over Stardust Speedway. **"With this emerald, the amount of electricity I can produce is LIMITLESS! Prepare to be electrified!" **Electro cackled maniacally, summoning the large Hotaru Hi-Watt Badnik that was in the area for him to easily control and stand on top of.

"This could be a problem." Tails stated while dodging the numerous energy bolts coming from the electric android.

"I know. I'm scared of what electric puns he would make." Sonic joked. The blue blur dodges one of Electro's attack to perform a Spin Dash, but was blocked by getting electrocuted by the android's power.

"**Shocking, right?" **Electro punned.

"The puns are only going to get worse, aren't they?" Sonic quipped after his fur is mildly burnt.

Spider-Man was able to kick Electro off the Super Badnik since his suit's insulated and grounded him with some web shots, "Electricity doesn't do well on the ground! That's the time to strike!" He advised his allies.

Knuckles unleashes a ferocious combo while doing his best avoiding Electro's attacks. The android charges up his energy, teleporting through a stream of energy to confuse Knuckles before attacking him with an energy beam. "Here's a move I picked up from my future self!" Sonic uses an advanced technique his older self regularly uses, the Homing Attack, repeatedly slamming Electro to the ground with a dozen homing Spin-Attacks, and once he's done, he allowed Tails to knock him back with a charged Spin Dash.

"**Grrr! I ain't done yet, you little meatbags! I'm the most powerful android of 2099! Watch what I can do!" **Electro commands the Hotaru Hi-Watt to move across the area whilst firing a large beam attack into the ground. When the heroes managed to avoid this attack, Electro tries another approach, electromagnetically splitting the Badnik into dozens of smaller Hotarus, allowing them to teleport and fire beams from their light bulbs. The heroes dodge their attacks as best as they could, meanwhile, Spider-Man web-grabs two clusters of the Hotarus and throws them right at Electro with the force to make them explode upon impact, then knocks him back further with a Decoy Strike.

"My Decoys are pretty effective against you. They aren't hampered by your electricity." Spider-Man taunted.

"**Stop ruining my fun, Spider-Man!" **Electro turns into pure energy to follow the electricity stream and tackle Spider-Man to the ground. The irritated android surrounds himself in a static barrier and was about to pound Spider-Man if the wall-crawler didn't web-zip to the air, escaping from the crater punch that summoned several huge lightning bolts that almost obliterated the whole group. Spider-Man fires webbing from midair to distract Electro long enough for Knuckles to deliver to him a powerful punch to the face. Electro tries to counter with an electric bolt, but Sonic protects him with his Insta-Shield. Tails strikes Electro from behind with his tails right into Sonic's direction to get finished off with his charged Spin Dash, packing the power needed to knock the Chaos Emerald right off his metal palms.

"**AAAAAARGH! Noooo! The power…!" **Electro skipped on the ground until his power ran out, smashing through an idle Robot Transporter that was in the area for some reason and lies down in shutdown mode defeated.

**BGM End**

Miguel picks up the fourth Chaos Emerald left by the defeated Electro, "That's our fourth Chaos Emerald." He counted.

"Raise your hand if you think the remaining Six has the remaining emeralds?" Sonic asked, seeing everyone raising their hand to answer such an easy question, "Should be pretty obvious at this point." He joked.

With Electro no longer a hindrance to them, at least for now, the heroes walked towards the Future Time Plate that is the key returning to the present. "So, how do we use this thing?" Knuckles asked the hedgehog experienced with time travel in Little Planet.

"Easy. Past by it with enough speed and keep up the momentum until you warp. I say move at 88 miles per hour, at least." Sonic instructed the method of time traveling with the Time Warp Plate.

"Sounds tricky to pull off. I'm fast while swinging, but I don't know if that'll be enough." Miguel remarked.

Sonic smiles with an idea, "Not a problem. Just attach a web to my back and hold on, while I hold onto Tails and Knuckles and I'll super speed us back to the present!" Sonic grabs Tails and Knuckles' arm as they stood beside him, while Miguel attaches a webline to Sonic's back and is about to use him like he's a reindeer moving Santa's sleigh.

"This is so unnecessary." Miguel remarked dryly.

"Hold on tight!" Sonic grinned, revving up a Super Peel Out, spinning his legs like an "8" and rockets off with his friends at super speed, passing by the Future Time Plate. When he hears a voice state "future", sparkles of light trail behind him, receiving an extra boost of speed from a dash panel, breaking the sound barrier as the group get warped into a multi-colored time vortex, traveling into the future.

* * *

**Stardust Speedway (Present), Little Planet**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Stardust Speedway Zone (Act 2)**

A sonic boom burst in Stardust Speedway's present as the heroes appeared in this time period from a trail of fire thanks to Sonic's incredible speed. Now they find themselves in a more urbanized Stardust Speedy as the plant life has made place for a neon-lit cityscape crossed with a highway made out of coppers and musical instruments.

"Thank you for time traveling with Sonic Speedster. Here's our destination: The present world of Stardust Speedway. Enjoy your stay." Sonic joked, glad they actually time traveled back to the present era.

"That's the last time I'm time traveling with you!" Knuckles retorted angrily, clearly wasn't a fan of how they time traveled back to the present.

"We're back in the present! Awesome job, Sonic!" Tails praised his big bro, who is chuckling and coolly wiping under his nose.

"Perfect. I'm already picking up the Phantom Ruby's energy." Miguel scanned the environment with his wrist device, confirming they have returned in the present where the Phantom Ruby is in.

"Me too. That means Eggman and Patel are close. Let's not waste any more time." Knuckles said, wanting to get a move on.

"Heh heh." Sonic chuckled from his unintentional "time" pun.

"THAT WASN'T A PUN!" Knuckles retorted loudly.

The heroes speeds off through the present-day Zone to hunt down the Doctors, avoiding the usual obstacles like spikes while easily blowing through the enemy hordes that hinder their hunt. During their run, Sonic enters a little conversation with Miguel, "Spidey. You mentioned earlier Alchemax is the reason you're you right now. What did you mean by that?" He asked the hero from the future.

Miguel was reluctant to tell his tale for a moment but decided he could trust his new friends with his backstory, "I work at Alchemax as their geneticist but was pressured by the higher-ups to imprint foreign genetic codes to give humans superpowers. I was working to replicate the original Spider-Man's powers, but after one of our test subjects died, I wanted to resign. But my jerk of a father, Tyler Stone, laced a drink with a drug called Rapture, which changes a person's DNA and makes them addicted to it, which was Stone's way of 'convincing' his unknown son to continue working at Alchemax since they're the only company that manufactures the drug. I said 'shock that' and spliced my DNA with that of a spider's to save myself. Now my DNA is 50% spider and can now do anything like the original Spider-Man can, mostly everything. I don't exactly have a Spider-Sense."

"Sorry to hear that. Can't believe your own father did that to you." Tails remarked, feeling bad for the future spider.

"It's okay. I should probably thank him. With my new abilities and my position in Alchemax, I can take down Stone and his evil corporation from holding my world in tyranny. That's why I can't allow Patel from expanding his empire to different worlds." Miguel declared, promising himself to continue fighting a good fight against Alchemax.

"Yeah! We'll stop them and Eggman. All we need to do is find them and kick them where it hurts!" Sonic smiled, promising to help Miguel stop Alchemax from expanding their empire with the Eggman Empire.

**BGM End**

While gliding through the air following the Phantom Ruby's energy, Knuckles spotted a particular machine below him. "Hmm? What's that?" He alerted his friends to his new finding. The heroes meet up in front of a holographic projector displaying a familiar metal hedgehog kicking and harassing an animal.

"A Metal Sonic Projector?" Sonic recognized the machine.

"Metal Sonic?" Tails remarked from hearing the name of Sonic's robot doppelganger.

"Thinking back, I did see on Eggman's screen a picture of Metal Sonic. Perhaps he was trying to find him on Little Planet after I whooped his tin can in a race." Sonic figured. Wasting no time, Sonic destroys the projector, allowing animals to rush around freely, "There. Now the animals can-."

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Vs. Metal Sonic**

Then out of nowhere, the real Metal Sonic smashes from the ground to confront his organic counterpart and his friends. "This was a trap!" Miguel remarked, getting his guard on against Metal Sonic.

"Not a trap." Sonic thought otherwise, judging from how Metal is taunting him with a finger wave before getting into a start-up position as if he's challenging him to something. Sonic grins as he knows what exactly Metal wants, "A race."

Sonic stands next to his double in a start-up position of his own, revving up his Super Peel Out as Metal charges up his systems for a boost. "Here we...GO!" Both Sonics burst forward with tremendous speed into the rematch of the century, leaving Miguel and the others in their dust.

"Aw man. It'll be almost impossible to catch up when he's like this." Tails coughed from the dust cloud that was left behind from the speedsters.

"Doesn't mean we can't try. Let's go!" Miguel fires a webline to begin swinging, hoping to catch up with Sonic while Tails and Knuckles do their best too.

An amazing display of speed has never been shown before until today, during this epic clash between Sonic and Metal Sonic. They run at their full-top speed up a rising highway that circles around a mysterious large statue. These two don't let up for anything. Sonic's in the lead before gaining an extra boost, with Metal not that far behind and activates his V. Maximum Overdrive Attack to surround himself in a fiery golden shield to give himself that extra boost. He rams into Sonic only to miss, with the real Sonic reappearing to counterattack, but Metal instantly dodged that attack as if he predicted it, with the pattern repeating itself fiercely between the two.

"I still see you know everything I'm going to do, but that's not going to help you since I still know everything you're going to do! Strange, isn't it?" Sonic said, having an intense speed clash that matches Metal's abilities blow-for-blow.

Soon after, the Sonics take their fight to an arena with a gigantic Eggman-shaped generator just as Miguel and the others caught up with the speedsters. "Need any help, Sonic?" Knuckles asked the blue hero.

"Nah. I got this." Sonic replied, having this battle handled by himself.

"True, but we're here and we're bored, so we're helping you regardless." Miguel quipped.

"Just try to keep up." Sonic grinned, allowing his friends to assist him after all.

Seeing it's now a four-on-one battle, Metal Sonic switches tactics. He jacks himself into the generator to control it and use it against the heroes, starting by firing electricity balls aimed at the heroes.

"Metal Sonic has connected himself with that generator! Watch out!" Tails advised, dodging his attacks alongside his friends.

Metal tries another attack method, opening the "mouth" of the generator to pop out several copies of a tiny Silver Sonic and commands them to attack the heroes with their Spin Dashes and claw swipes. "Get away you little freaks!" Knuckles smacks several robo Sonics out of his sight with a single swing from his fist.

"Let's use them to our advantages! Knock them onto Metal Sonic!" Miguel demonstrates, grabbing a Silver Sonic with his webbing and throws it at Metal Sonic, damaging the copy bot. The mobian heroes do the same, knocking the Silver Sonics right back a Metal.

Once enough damage was dealt to Metal Sonic, the generator explodes as the robot also ejects from it and flies away with the heroes right on his tail. Spider-Man zips over for an attack, only for Metal to easily dodge and counterattack with his speed. He knocked away Tails with a Spin Attack and then used his Ring Spark Field to protect himself from Knuckles' punch, shocking the echidna away but allows Sonic to get in a nice attack, all while during this epic chase that takes them to the top of Stardust Speedway where a double Eggman and Patel statue awaits them.

"Nowhere for you to run, Metal." Sonic proclaimed as they have him cornered and outnumbered.

"I could say the same to you, Sonic." Suddenly, a grinning Eggman appears in his Egg Mobile holding the Phantom Ruby in his hands.

"Eggman?!" Sonic remarked.

"Here you go, Metal Sonic! Combine your full power with the Phantom Ruby! Show them what you're made of!" Eggman throws Metal the Ruby as the machine begins flashing with energy. After a blinding burst of light, the heroes are in shock when they see the Phantom Ruby has transformed Metal Sonic similar to what it did with the Heavies, resulting in a gargantuan, more menacing version of the robot with a glass stomach which contains the Phantom Ruby.

"What the SHOCK?!" Miguel cursed in great surprise from Metal's transformation.

"Metal Sonic has transformed!" Tails pointed out the obvious.

"Okay, I'll admit, I'm glad you guys are here. This has gotten a WHOLE lot tougher." Sonic sweatdrops, slightly worried about this transformed Metal Sonic.

"Unlike those rebellious Heavies, I made sure to upgrade Metal Sonic so he wouldn't betray me when increased with the Ruby's power. Go, Giga Metal, CRUSH THEM!" Eggman smiled, thrusting his proud right arm and commands his transformed creation to destroy the heroes once and for all as he returns to more important matters with Patel.

"**GRAAAAAAAH!" **Giga Metal roared, using his renewed power and strength to slowly chase the heroes, enough to walk through the metal road they are running on like they are made of paper.

"Aim for the Phantom Ruby! It's the only way to shut him down!" Miguel swings around in the air avoiding Metal's lethal energy beams while pelleting him with web-bullets.

Knuckles shouts out a battle-cry as he runs towards Metal's weakspot while avoiding his deployed timed bombs to give the glass dome a good pounding. Irritated from his interference, Giga Metal fires his neck cannon down on Knuckles and blows him off the road, but thankfully Tails saved him before he plummets down.

"Gotcha!" Tails said after saving Knuckles.

"Thank you, Tails." Knuckles thanked the young fox for saving his life.

Sonic blitzes all over Giga Metal's body, attacking his body to distract him while Spider-Man does the important work punching his glass dome. "Focus on me, metalhead!" Sonic taunts his transformed copy, dodging all his bombs and lasers as he does. Tails throws a curled-up Knuckles at Metal's head and follows up with his own attack, giving Spider-Man the chance to create a makeshift slingshot with his webbing and using Sonic as the ball.

"Ready?" Miguel asked him, pulling the slingshot as far as he could.

"GO!" Sonic shouts.

Miguel lets go of the slingshot and watches Sonic rockets past the sound barrier and smashes through Giga Metal's glass chest, shattering it and freeing the Phantom Ruby, which has become the undoing of his transformation. Giga Metal explodes in a blaze of glory, returning to his normal form as he falls off the stage.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Act Clear**

"Still can't beat me! There's only one Sonic the Hedgehog!" Sonic posed, wagging his finger to taunt the defeated Metal Sonic.

**BGM End**

With that rematch done and over, Tails frees the floating animal Capsule as Miguel casually walks over to pick up the Phantom Ruby that was left after the battle. "Finally we can end this madness. Without the Phantom Ruby, the Doctors' plans are finished." Just before Miguel can retrieve the gem, however, a sudden Dango robot appears out of nowhere and sends the Ruby flying back to its masters' possession. "Son of a GLITCH! Are you KIDDING me?!" Miguel complained, having lost the Phantom Ruby that was almost in the palm of his hand.

"How did you not see that thing coming?! You supposed to have Accelerated Vision!" Sonic asked, freaking out.

"I was more focused on the gem of INFINITE POWER than a simple robot!" Miguel argued.

"Ohohoho! You two are so easily distracted!" Eggman taunted behind them.

**BGM-Kirby: Planet Robobot OST-Secretary Susie's Theme 1**

The heroes walk into a nearby room with the Phantom Ruby placed in a machine by Eggman and Serena Patel, both who are working with a wireframed mech of sorts that resembles a gigantic Death Egg Robot with the octopus tentacles sprouting behind it.

"Hello, gentlemen. Nice to see you have survived this far." Patel politely greeted her enemies approaching.

"Spill it. What's this mech you're creating? Is this the 'ultimate machine of past and future' you mentioned?" Miguel points to the wireframed mech on the holo-screen, demanding some answers.

"It is the Titanic Monarch! Our ultimate weapon soon to be powered by the Phantom Ruby." Eggman started explaining some things with a devious smile.

"Our goal is to eliminate every and all present and potential future threats that could oppose us based on our algorithm." Patel continued.

"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" Tails asked the mad scientists.

"It identifies targets for Alchemax and the Eggman Empire by analyzing people's data available online. Bank records, phone calls, college exams, you name it. It evaluates people's past to predict their future. In less than 3 hours, once the algorithm is finished scanning both dimensions and our mech is complete, we will use the Phantom Ruby to distort the barrier between our two dimensions and eradicate all threats without them even noticing their imbedding doom until it is too late. They will all be trapped in an endless illusion that will disappear along with their lives." Eggman smiled evilly.

"We're talking about THOUSANDS of people, each from both dimensions! You two are MAD!" Miguel criticized their horrifying plan to destroy all their enemies, present and future, in a single stroke.

"That's low, even for you, Eggman! We won't let you get away with this!" Sonic proclaimed, charging with his friends to steal the Phantom Ruby before the Doctors could use it for their diabolical plot, but no, Patel wouldn't give them that pleasure and activates the Ruby instead, trapping them in another space-time warp they can't break free from.

"Unfortunately, we've just entered the middle phase of our plan and we don't like it when people interrupt. Go play in the bottom of the abyss, like the good children you are, and never return." Patel taunts them with a scheming smile, transporting the heroes to another unknown Zone that'll keep them off Little Planet for a little while until they could complete their plan and eliminate their enemies for good.

**BGM End**

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: Learned a bit about Miguel's origins and the Doctors' master evil plot for their respective worlds. We're basically as the midpoint now. And in case for those that are curious, this "Sonic Mania" adaptation takes place before Knuckles Chaotix. That's why I didn't make reference to the Metal Sonic boss from that game which inspired Giga Metal.**

**D. : It's comic book logic. Technology advances so much in a century and everyone forgets about past old items because comic book. Besides, Miguel's a scientist, not a historian. This isn't the first time someone like me made fun of this. They make fun of his "lack of knowledge" about the past like cell phones and the World Series in the comics and in the games like Spider-Man: Edge of Time. And don't forget Miguel's new world is merged with Mobius' and Remnant's, with the latter already described as a "future-fantasy" world.**

**Next time: Intense swimming lessons in the underwater city!**

**Question of the Chapter: Does anyone want to see Spider-Man 2099 wear his "All-New, All-Different" White Suit in a future story? Does anyone like the 2099 White Suit, or prefer his regular suit?**

**BGM End**


	10. Issue 9: Underwater Mayhem

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Classic Sonic: I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm back on Little Planet. How's that possible? The Doctors must have used the Phantom Ruby to bring it back, and that's not all. Metal Sonic returned challenging me to another race, but when he couldn't keep up, he used the Phantom Ruby to transform into a giant robot monster. With the help of the squad, we took him down, but the Doctors still have the Ruby. They want to use it to power up their super mech to destroy all their enemies in both dimensions. Clock's ticking. We have to get back to Little Planet pronto!**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Issue 9: Underwater Mayhem_

**Hydrocity Zone, Angel Island**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Hydro City Zone (Act 1)**

Sonic had his eyes closed when he was once again caught by the Phantom Ruby's power. He and his friends were transported into a new Zone, or actually an old zone to the mobian heroes, one very familiar to their eyes, for better or worse. For Sonic, it's worse. Much worse. The heroic hedgehog blinks a few times before finally opening his eyes to see the four of them literally dropping into the new Zone via a huge waterfall.

"This feels familiar." Sonic said, slowly getting really worried all of a sudden. He looks down to where he's about to fall into, and the second he does, his eyes shrink instantly shrink with fear as he realizes he's falling into Hydrocity Zone, aka the water zone, aka Sonic's worst nightmare.

"W-Water…OOOOOH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He yelled, trying so hard to run away while in midair as he hates water with every fiber in his body, all because he can't swim, but it's all in vain.

The heroes splash into the water holding their breath, then gets caught by a mighty current into a narrow waterway. Sonic is, without a doubt, the most terrified revisiting Hydrocity as he was the first to tightly grab ahold of a pole in the waterway to stop himself, but when the others held onto the same one, much to his worrying frustration, it breaks and they are once again going with the flow of the current. Knuckles looks back to see they are approaching a switch hook hanged from the ceiling. Knowing Hydrocity like the back of his hand, he grabs a hook that opens a new path for them to flow through where there is no current to continuously push them.

Still, the heroes are underwater and are soon to run out of air if they don't reach the surface soon. Knuckles has another solution. He points to several Air Bubbles nearby they can use to regain some air. Obviously, Sonic was the first to rush to an Air Bubble while the rest took their time. With renewed air that'll last them a few more minutes, the gang explore these underwater ruins for a way out. They all swim, except for Sonic, who is holding onto Tails as they explore.

Knuckles took the lead destroying the aquatic Badniks that are impeding their path while Miguel searches for an exit, and some more air bubbles. He points the gang to some fans and a switch that'll form bubbles for them to ride to the surface. Knuckles jumps onto the switch forming the bubbles for them to enter and ride all the way to the top. Sonic slowly calms down now that they are approaching land, which sounded like the perfect time for a Blastoid to shoot his bubble when he rises to his area midway. When Sonic notices the Badnik about to fire his bubble, he rigorously shakes his head in absolute fear before the robot popped his bubble and causes him to grunts under his scared breath while dropping down the water past his friends, who all share a deadpan stare at his luck before Tails went to save him.

Spider-Man and Knuckles were to the first to escape the dangerous depths of the sea and land on dry land. Tails followed soon after holding onto the rescued Sonic, dropping the wet hedgehog onto the ground so he can regain his own breath and sanity from being underwater for too long.

"I thought I was going to die." Sonic panted tiredly, lying on the ground with his face and stomach.

"Oh, come on, it's not that easy to die." Tails replied sheepishly.

"At least we're all alright." Miguel said, grateful they are still alive after that sudden underwater dive.

"Says so. You're lucky you can swim." Sonic quipped with an annoyed expression.

"Seems this time we've been teleported to an ancient underwater system." Miguel observed his new environment and surroundings as this is his first time visiting this zone.

"Hydrocity. Ancient ruins located underneath Angel Island." Knuckles answered, as he is the guardian of Angel Island and knows everything about his home, from shortcuts to secret security chambers.

"So we're not on Little Planet anymore. They sent us away to give themselves more time." Miguel pondered correctly on the doctors' plot.

"We have less than three hours before the docs finish their weapon. We need to hurry and get back to Little Planet, or else a lot of people from both our worlds are gonna get hurt." Sonic said to Miguel, after finally calming down from being underwater a minute ago.

"I know, but I'm unfamiliar with these caverns. How do we escape?" Miguel asked, wanting to hear an escape plan.

Knuckles chuckles with a noticeable smug smile directly on his face while he points to himself, "Just leave it to your FAVORITE leader to think up an escape route!"

"Oh, right. Forgot you're our 'leader'." Sonic quipped while sweatdropping.

"You know a way out of here, Knuckles?" Miguel asked the guardian.

Knuckles smirks, "Heh. Do I? I was BORN in Angel Island. I know this place like the back of my hand." He points to a nearby canoe on the water, "We'll take this canoe. It'll take us to the quickest route straight to the exit."

"As long as we're above water, I don't care which route we take!" The enthusiastic Sonic said, immediately jumping onto the boat before the others.

Sonic relaxes on his hands in the middle of the boat, nowhere near the water. Miguel and Tails take care of the paddling while Knuckles stand on-front tall and proud as the self-proclaimed leader of the team, "Keep her moving, gang. Keep like this and we'll be out of here in no time."

"Intruders!" A Public Eye officer suddenly shows his face from an upper platform with two other officers about to attack with him.

"Intruders? THIS IS MY HOME! GET OUT OF HERE!" Knuckles retorted, angrily shouting at the real intruders.

"Fire!" A P.E. officer fires from his gun a hook that pierces the gang's boat, causing it to flood.

"You P.E. cops are gettin' on my nerves." Sonic scowled. The corrupt cops fire rockets to destroy the heroes but Spider-Man and Knuckles ware able to deflect them with webbing and fists respectively. While he does that, Sonic runs on the wire of the hook to meet up with the cops on the platform and easily beats them. A surviving officer was able to land a blow on Sonic, launching a rocket on the ground next to him that sends him flying back to the flooding boat. As he regains his bearings, the copper fired one last rocket that destroys their boat while they were distracted with Sonic's fall, sending the disgruntled Sonic and his friends back underwater for some more unneeded swimming lessons.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Danger on the Dance Floor**

Back underwater, the heroes hold their breath while trying to find a way out of here. Miguel uses his Accelerated Vision to search for a new escape route. He finds one, but also finds something troubling underneath them. With his Accelerated Vision, he is able to see the body heat of Dr. Eggman apparently in a scuba suit swimming beneath the platform they are standing on. Eggman deploys bombs on the cracked sides of the wall and swims away before they exploded, causing the water level to rise between the ground and the ceiling in an attempt to crush the heroes. The gang quickly jump over spike traps while trying to escape the crushing segment. After a short bit with some close calls, the heroes escaped and returned to dry land to catch their breath.

"Eggman!" Miguel told them it's Eggman that's trying to kill them, again.

"Figured." Sonic replied, not too surprised it's him behind this.

"Sonic! Look at that!" Tails points to Eggman's Screw Mobile parked on the platform next to them.

"I recognize that. Eggman used it against us the last time we were here. Heheh. Time to give him a taste of his own medicine." Sonic chuckled, hopping into the Screw Mobile to pilot it. When he spots Eggman swimming below his area, Sonic smiles as it's time for some payback. "Yo, Egghead!" He calls out to his nemesis, who silently looks up in fear to see the waving hedgehog piloting his own dangerous Screw Mobile.

Sonic drops bombs from the hovercraft to attack Eggman in the water, blowing him around left and right while his friends watch. When Sonic uses the Mobile's impeller to suck him up out of the water with a produced water plume, Eggman deploys some bombs to cover for him. Sonic quickly stopped before the bombs could destroy his ride. He notices Eggman trying to swim away but he won't let him. This time, he activates the impeller much faster to catch Eggman off-guard so he wouldn't deploy any bombs in time, with the only thing he could do is allow the impeller to destroy his scuba suit, causing him to fall off the arena in defeat while screaming, "DON'T RUIN A MAN'S SWIMMMMMMM…!"

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Hydro City Zone (Act 2)**

Sonic hovers to the next platform where he is reunited with his friends after defeating Eggman solo. "Nicely done." Miguel complimented the blue hedgehog.

Sonic quips with a grin, "That'll teach him to force me into a swimming lesson. Alright, Knuckles, lead us out of here."

"You got it." Knuckles smiled, leading the gang further into the depths of Hydrocity.

Sonic remembers how much fun he had in this second act of the zone as this is where he enjoys the high-speed thrills rolling down the large blue slides, swiftly running above the water's edge as if this is a makeshift underground water park, "This is more like it! Instead of swimming underwater, I'm running on top of it!" He smiled joyfully.

"Yeah, well, just be careful not to trip so I'd come save your butt." Knuckles quipped, gliding over gunfire from the grounded PE officers he quickly punches to the water and hope they regret trying to take over Angel Island.

"Shouldn't we also go after the Sinister Six and the Hard Boiled Heavies?" Tails flies, asking Miguel who is web-swinging next to him.

"No. Our priority is to return to Little Planet and stop the Doctors. Going after the others would be a waste of time." Miguel replied, attacking the flying Jawz badniks.

"If they do show up, it doesn't hurt laying the smackdown on them in case they got some Chaos Emeralds." Sonic replied.

"Good point. Having all seven would come in handy if we're going up against the Phantom Ruby. Still, we need to focus getting out of here first." Miguel remarked.

"Don't worry. We're close to our exit point." Knuckles stopped running, as well as the others when they stand above an underwater passage, "Taking this passage will lead us straight out of this Zone." He pointed.

"Underwater again…?" Sonic questioned with a worrisome sweatdrop.

"Don't be too scared, Sonic, 'cause this time we'll be using _these_!" Knuckles smiles, opening a secret room in the wall revealing four Bubble Shield boxes for them to use.

"Bubble Shields!" Tails remarked, happily.

"Nice, Knuckles!" Sonic complimented the echidna, breaking an item box open, which surrounds himself with a visible, but bouncy bubble shield that'll help them breath underwater.

**BGM End**

Miguel and the others equip themselves with Bubble Shields of their own before joining Sonic diving into the underwater passage to the exit point. "How are you holding up, Sonic?" Miguel asked the aquaphobic hedgehog.

"Still hate the water, but at least I'm dry and can breathe in this thing." Sonic replied, sighing a relaxing relief while going with the flow of the waterway.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Ruby Delusions**

"**It'd be such a shame if someone pops your bubble!" **

The heroes turn to see the nefarious Eggman has returned, piloting a large and red round-shaped Egg Mobile called the "Laundro-Mobile" with a two-headed propeller propelling the heroes further backwards through the water.

"Already back for seconds, Eggman?" Sonic taunted his angry enemy.

"**No one uses my own Egg Mobile against me and gets away with it! I'll make sure you drown in the abyss for that!" **Eggman chases after them, wanting to use his powerful propeller to rip them into shreds. The heroes want to attack but can't with him keep repelling them through the water, not to mention evading the underwater obstacles like spikes so they don't run into the propeller.

"We can't attack him like this. I can't use my webbing inside this bubble shield, even out in the water it'd be useless." Miguel commented, trying to think of a plan of attack.

Knuckles turns around when he notices several underwater bombs coming into view, which gives him an idea, "Hey! Activate the bombs to damage him!" He informed his friends.

"Good idea!" Sonic replied.

Each hero activate the bombs spread out throughout the underwater passage and allows them to hit Eggman, damaging the Laundro-Mobile enough times until the propeller was destroyed. **"Curse you! This isn't over yet!" **Eggman proclaimed.

The water level falls halfway as the heroes are sent into a bowl-shaped arena with a pole-shaped turbine in the middle. "I remember here. We fought in a similar arena before against one of Eggman's Super-Badniks. Meaning I have a good idea what his next move will be." Sonic remarked, watching Eggman levitate into the area and activate his thrusters. "Get ready to jump everyone!" Sonic warned his friends as the mech charge into the water from one end to another, but the heroes were able to avoid his attacks by following Sonic's instructions.

"**You can't solve all your problems with jumping!" **Eggman then interfaces with the turbine and creates a whirlpool in the water. Miguel and Knuckles were caught in the whirlpool but can't do anything about it but wait. Eggman laughs until he notices Sonic and Tails weren't caught in his trap and wonders where they went, **"Where'd they go?!"**

"Looking for us, Robuttnik?" Sonic jokes above the surface with Tails since they experienced a similar tactic with the previous Hydrocity Super Badnik.

Eggman's mustache droops as the duo bombards his mech with relentless attacks enough times to stop the whirlpool, allowing Spider-Man and Knuckles to get in on the action too. **"AAAAH! Savages! STOP!" **Eggman shouts, telling them to stop but they really don't care. The Laundro-Mobile can't take the powerful hits anymore and begins to explode, **"No! Look what you've done! At the very least, I delayed your efforts stopping our master plan! Might as well see some victory in this otherwise embarrassing defeat! Bye-bye!" **Eggman escapes the Zone with his exploding mech as a floating Animal Capsule appears in his place.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Act Clear**

"Keep running, Eggman! We'll chase you to the ends of the earth to stop you and your girlfriend!" Sonic taunted the escaping doctor as Knuckles rescues the animals from the Capsule.

**BGM End**

"With Eggman out of the way, we can now escape from this place. Watch out." Knuckles destroys a secret cracked wall that leads into a flooded tunnel, erupting the water from the wall. "This is it. C'mon. Let's get out of here." Knuckles leads the team through the now-not so flooded tunnel as they are finally exiting Hydrocity Zone.

* * *

**Angel Island Zone, Angel Island**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Angel Island Zone**

The gang have at least escaped from Hydrocity and are back on the peaceful beach shores of Angel Island, something that Sonic is most certainly happy about they aren't in those underwater caverns anymore. "LAND! Glorious land! I don't care if I lose traction on it! I love you land!" Sonic embraces the sandy beach, not caring about the weird looks his friends are giving him.

Miguel remarks, "Uh-huh. So how are we gonna get back to Little Planet?"

"It's over at Never Lake, so we'll use the Tornado to get there." Tails answered, standing next to the Tornado they parked on the beach when they first arrived on Angel Island.

"Almost forgot we took it with all the teleporting. Nice. This should get us back in time." Miguel stated, having forgot about the Tornado because they kept getting teleported around the world because of the Phantom Ruby.

Tails hops onto the pilot's seat with his headgear on, while the rest of the gang stand on the wings of the plane. "Next stop: Little Planet! Onwards, Tails!" Sonic thrusts his excited finger forward.

"Okay, Sonic! Hold on, everybody!" Tails turns on the plane and flies it out into the clear blue skies, onward to Little Planet, completely unaware a certain Hard Boiled Heavy is watching them from afar, and before you know it, vanishes like a magician into their hat.

**BGM End**

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: I'm already brainstorming what the last story of this "Infinity Trilogy" will be. You guys may like it. I won't say what the title of the story will be (unless you've been paying attention to my profile page) to give you an idea what I have in storage after this story. Maybe on Spider-Man's anniversary I'll go more into detail, assuming this story isn't finished by then.**

**Next time: Can the heroes survive the cadre of hooligans lurking in the shadows at the ice cream parlors?**

**Question of the Chapter: Is anyone interested in a Sonic Forces adaptation?**

**BGM End**


	11. Issue 10: Wildstyle Magician

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Spider-Man 2099: The name's Miguel O'Hara. I'm the Spider-Man from the Year 2099. Once again, we fell victim to the Phantom Ruby's power and was transported to another location. This time a water zone, which Sonic loathed since he can't swim. But he maned up and brave through it, helping us stop Eggman and escape Hydrocity so we can return to Little Planet. But why do I get the feeling we're being watched from afar?**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Issue 10: Wildstyle Magician_

**Mirage Saloon Zone**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Skyway Octane**

Above a vast desert that resembles the wild west of old, the heroes are flying onboard the Tornado past the large canyons and other rock formation so they could return to Little Planet and stop the Doctors from completing their master plan.

"Cool desert. Ironically, since it's kinda hot. What Zone is this, Tails?" Sonic asked his pilot as he stands fearlessly on the wing alongside Spider-Man, while Knuckles sits on the back wing.

"The Mirage Saloon Zone. It's like the deserts from those old wild west movies and are just as dangerous because outlaws roam around here, so we're entering dangerous territory." Tails explained to them the dangers about this desert zone.

"Meh. What else is new?" Sonic shrugged, not seeing any outlaws as threats considering he deals with Eggman every week.

"They also sell some really tasty ice cream at the parlors." Tails said happily.

"Ice cream?" Miguel questioned.

"What? You guys don't have ice cream in the future too?" Sonic teased the future man.

Miguel retorts, "Of course we do! We're not THAT far in the future to not know what ice cream is. I'm just baffled who sells it in the middle of a desert."

"Not a good business strategy. Who would seriously come out to the middle of nowhere to buy some ice cream?" Knuckles asked.

"Us, if we keep a lookout." Sonic quipped, merrily scoping the Zone for an open ice cream parlor to buy from.

"Ah geez." Knuckles scoffed, annoyed with the hedgehog's merrily attitude as they have more important business to worry about.

While Knuckles wasn't looking, something mystical appeared and suddenly ambushed him from below. It's the Heavy Magician, one of the Hard Boiled Heavies, that knocked the surprised echidna off the Tornado.

"KNUCKLES!" Sonic shouted when the rest of the gang noticed this.

"WAAAAAAAAAH!" Knuckles yelled, falling from the air down into a canyon.

"I'll get him! We'll catch up!" Miguel jumps off the plane into free-fall down towards the canyon to save Knuckles, not seeing the Heavy Magician tipping her hat and dropping out a Caterkiller badnik into the canyon with him.

"What's the big idea?!" Sonic scowled, jumping to attack the Magician for knocking down his friend, but before his attack connected, she disappeared into her hat and vanished from sight.

"It disappeared?!" Sonic remarks from the Magician's ability to teleport.

"Sonic! Badniks and Public Eye incoming!" Tails warns him of multiple Badniks and P.E. soliders coming to knock them out of the sky too.

The large Armadiloids fly through the air firing energy blasts from their mouths. Cactulas camouflaging with the cacti until they decided to reveal themselves to shoot with their cannons. The Vultrons attempting to tackle the Tornado. And Public Eye officers shooting from their futuristic hovercraft vehicles.

"Boost and spin, Tails!" Sonic commanded.

"Okay!" Tails listened, spinning the plane horizontally while boosting forward, dodging most of the enemies' attack while also destroying a chunk of the enemies in their way. The ones that weren't destroyed by the Tornado Boost was left to Sonic to jump off the plane and attack every single one he can see in a blink of an eye.

Along the way, the duo heard the sound of a whistle blowing from a nearby freight train. "A train?" Sonic turns to see a wild-west themed train with a pink nose and a mustache approaching via the tracks, driven by, of course, Dr. Eggman as the conductor. Sonic scowls, "Eggman! You just don't know when to quit."

Eggman laughs while pulling on the hook and blowing the whistle loudly, "Ohohohoho! Enjoying yourself in the wild west?"

"It'll be more enjoyable once I kick you out of your own train. Drop me off, Tails." Sonic ordered.

Tails nodded, dropping his friend at the back of the train so he could start tearing through it as he makes his way towards Eggman, during which he notices the oil tanks on the train with the letters "OOZ" on their side. "OOZ? Was does that mean? Where is Eggman taking all this oil?" Sonic asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Eggman spoke up from the open conductor room up ahead.

"Yeah. That's why I asked." Sonic quipped, rushing towards his nemesis and stop the train. Eggman chuckles and once again uses the Phantom Ruby to teleport himself away from Sonic's attack and out of the Zone. "Argh! He's gone again!" Sonic grunted, then turns to notice the train is blowing up from the destruction he caused. "Oh well. Better skedaddle." Sonic spots a giant revolver contraption attached to the train and inserts himself in it and shoots himself to the sky like a bullet from a gun, amazingly landing back on the Tornado.

"Sonic! I found that Magician that knocked down Knuckles! She's approaching." Tails informed him.

"It's a she?" Sonic questioned, a bit surprised this Heavy is actually a female instead of a male like the others they fought so far.

"That's what the scans say, yeah." Tails replied casually.

Showing up right on que, the Heavy Magician returns to greet her organic enemies with a tip of her hat, "I don't care if you are a girl-bot. No one knocks out my friends and gets away with it!" Sonic proclaimed, challenging the Heavy to a fight.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Danger on the Dance Floor**

Heavy Magician accepts his challenge but won't be fighting him directly, at least not yet, not unless he survives what she had in store for them. She summons from her hat a Rattlekiller as it drops to the ground below. Then, before she disappears, she uses her "magic" to transform the regular, small Rattlekiller to a giant pink variant of the Caterkiller model with a glass dome covering the brain circuitry underneath the scalp.

"That's a huge Caterkiller!" Sonic remarks on the newly-transformed Uber Caterkiller.

The Uber Caterkiller burrows through the sand around them for a while before leaping out of the sand to attack the Tornado, either from the back, the front or the sides. Tails did his best dodging it's attacks while Sonic tries to find the right time to attack.

"It's burrowing through the sand. Wait until it reveals itself then attack the head!" Tails advised his buddy.

"Got it! I'll keep a look out!" Sonic replied.

Sonic focuses on the moving sand that hints where the Caterkiller is moving through. When it leaps from the front, now it was time to strike. "There you are! You're mine now!" Sonic charges up a Spin Dash, launching himself from the Tornado with some maneuver assistance from Tails to smack its underbelly with a powerful hit, staggering the robot for a moment while Sonic was in the air above its head. Sonic charges up another attack and comes down with a powerful spin-stomp through the glass dome, destroying the head of the Uber Caterkiller and the Super-Badnik as a whole.

**BGM End**

"You did it, Sonic!" Tails cheered for his victory.

"With some help from you! That was a piece of cake!" Sonic wiggled his posing finger.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Hard Boiled Heavies Mischief Theme**

The Heavy Magician then returns to see her Uber Caterkiller was destroyed by the hedgehog and the fox. "What's the matter? Ran out of tricks? Some magician you turned out to be!" Sonic taunts the Heavy, who is so visibly irritated from his taunting that she once again disappears from sight. "Guess running away is the only trick you're good at." He mocked, which got a small laugh from Tails.

"What are you clowns doing here?" A new voice entered the chat, interrupting the duo's moment of victory. Standing on an Armadiloid approaching the Tornado is an unfamiliar purple weasel wearing a big brown Stetson hat and a holster on the right side of his belt.

"Huh? Are you one of the outlaws of this Zone?" Sonic asked the new guy.

"I'm a mercenary, but yeah, I'm an outlaw. Call me Nack the Weasel. Big boss of the famous Hooligans, and you're trespassing." Nack introduced himself to the duo.

"Don't take it too seriously, Nack. We'll be out of your fang once we find our friends, so move outta the way." Sonic quipped, giving the outlaw a fearless grin showing he's not afraid of him.

"Wise guy, eh? But if you need help finding your friends, you've come to the right guy." Nack smiled deviously.

"And why should we trust you?" Sonic asked.

"You can trust Nack the Weasel, or what some people like to call me…" Nack takes out his Popgun and aims the revolver at the biplane, "Fang the Sniper." He fires a powerful cork as ammunition at the Tornado, destroying the propeller and causes the whole plane to start crashing as he flies away laughing.

"WE'RE GONNA CRASH!" Tails shouted.

"JUMP, TAILS!" Sonic shouted while hanging on the back of the plane.

**BGM End**

Both heroes jump out of the plane just seconds before it crashed right into the coursing sand of the desert. "Great! There goes our ride!" Sonic exasperated, clearly angry they were shot down by that conniving weasel. "Is it possible you can still fix it, Tails?" He asked the young mechanic.

Tails checks the damage of the Tornado to see how severe the damage is, "I might be. It'll take a day or two though, but…"

"We don't have that much time, do we?" Sonic asked with a deadpan look as time is of the essence before the Doctors unleash their ultimate mech.

"Nope." Tails replied, visibly worried.

"Perfect. How are we gonna get out of this Zone now?" Sonic asked.

"More importantly, where is Spider-Man and Knuckles? Shouldn't we go looking for them?" Tails asked, more concerned about the friends who were knocked off the Tornado earlier and haven't been seen since.

"I'm sure they're fine. C'mon, let's go find a place they can meet us at." Sonic walked away, completely sure of himself Miguel and Knuckles are okay and are coming right now as Tails walks with him to the saloon bars.

* * *

**A few minutes ago…with Miguel and Knuckles…**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Wildstyle Pistolero**

Right after Knuckles was knocked off the Tornado, the hard-headed echidna fell on his head deep into a canyon and apparently looking no worse for wear except for a small, and painful, "Owwwwww…."

At the same time, Miguel glides down to help his new friends back on his feet, "There you are. You alright?" He asked while helping the echidna.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks for coming down to help me out. Where are we anyways?" Knuckles asked, looking around his surroundings to see various tunnels and cave-like areas near them.

"In the canyons. You were ambushed by that magician Heavy. Sonic and Tails are still in the air. We'll have to catch up on foot." Miguel told him.

Knuckles scowls, "Oh, when I get my hands on that robot…"

"You'll have plenty of time tearing it apart once we get out of here. C'mon!" Spider-Man shoots a webline to swing on through the canyon while Knuckles follows him on foot. There were some Badniks and Public Eye in the area as well, but they were quickly dealt with by the duo's incredible power.

"If there's one thing I'll give credit, this Zone is more lively than Sandopolis from Angel Island. Was never a big fan traveling that area, especially in the summer." Knuckles commented, climbing a wall to catch up with Miguel up top.

"Does anyone else live on Angel Island or is it just you?" Miguel asked the guardian.

Knuckles casually shrugs as they walk, "Just me. Lone survivor of the echidna tribe. Born and raised on Angel Island, always guarding the Master Emerald. Don't know why I was given the job, or why it's my fate, but I'm okay with that. Say, do echidnas exist in your world at least?"

"Not that I know of, but I know their history is being studied in schools and whatnot. I do know the Knuckles of the Heroic Age was remembered as one of the world's greatest heroes. It's either in my time or in Silver's time Angel Island still exist, but renamed to something else. I think it was 'Onyx Island' or something…?"

"Am I more popular than Sonic in the future?" Knuckles asked smugingly.

"I don't think so." Miguel answered, a bit bluntly.

"Doh." Knuckle stumbled.

**BGM End**

As they approach the exit point out of the canyon, the two enter an arena with three wanted posters on the walls of the Hooligans: Bark the Polar Bear, Bean the Dynamite, and their leader, Nack the Weasel, the same guy that just shot down the Tornado. "Who are the 'Hooligans'?" Miguel asked.

"Never seen them before." Knuckles answered.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-** **Danger on the Dance Floor**

Before more questions could be asked, another Uber Caterkiller rises up from the ground, the first Caterkiller that Heavy Magician dropped off right after knocking down Knuckles. It confronts the duo like a tower and is ready to do battle against them.

"Another Super-Badnik! I'm in the mood to punch something!" Knuckles cracked his eager fists, ready to demolish the giant Caterkiller.

"Let's make this quick!" Miguel said, rushing with Knuckles to destroy the Caterkiller as soon as possible. The big-bad bot throws its body segments at the heroes to attack but missed, allowing Spider-Man to web-throw each of them back damaging the lone head and knocking it back. Miguel stays still to web-yank the giant head towards Knuckles' angry fist, smashing the glass dome and destroying the Uber Caterkiller with one powerful punch.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Rouges Gallery**

"I needed that. Wish it was something more challenging." Knuckles grinned.

"Seems we made it out of the canyon. Now I wonder where Sonic and Tails are? I don't see the Tornado anywhere." Miguel uses his Accelerated Vision to scan the skies for the Tornado but it's nowhere to be seen, which he finds odd.

"Oh! There you guys are!" Sonic's loud voice caught their attention, as the two approach him to see that he and Tails are eating ice cream at one of the ice cream parlor in this wild west saloon bars.

"You guys were eating ice cream without us?" Knuckles complained.

"Yup." Sonic casually remarks, taking a lick from his cone topped with five ice cream scoops.

"What happened to the Tornado?" Miguel asked the hedgehog.

"It crashed right after we got shot down by one of the Hooligans, Nack the Weasel." Sonic answered.

"The guy from the wanted posters? How are we gonna return to Little Planet now?" Knuckles asked, worried they'll be stranded in the desert.

"My idea is to use one of those revolver launchers in the area to shoot ourselves there, or at least to the nearest Zone from here." Tails said, telling them of his simple plan.

"You want us to get shot out of a gun? Isn't that dangerous?" Miguel remarked, thinking this plan is too dangerous and reckless.

"I did it not too long ago." Sonic replies nonchalantly to him.

"That because you're crazy." Miguel argued.

"Crazily awesome." Sonic grinned, leaning on his rotating chair taking more licks from his ice cream cone.

"Ugh. Fine. If you think that's our best shot out of here, I won't complain." Miguel reluctantly agrees to the plan to escape Mirage Saloon.

"Sweet. While we were waiting for you guys, we scoped the area finding the right launcher that'll take us out of here. Think we might've found it. C'mon!" Sonic told them, finishing his ice cream along with Tails.

Sonic and Tails leads the other across the second act of Mirage Saloon and enjoying the trip all-around like running on a water bubble path shot out from a giant seltzer bottle, jumping onto a higher platform using the flippers and the other small pinball-themed gimmicks in the Zone, and of course beating down every goon they come across. Once done, they dropped down through a barrel that takes them in front of a curtain like they're on stage for some play, which Sonic and Tails found very odd.

**BGM End**

"This wasn't like this when we explored this place. Something's changed about this arena." Sonic noticed.

"Look!" Miguel pointed to the curtains as his Accelerated Vision shows him something appearing behind it.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Hi-Spec Robo Go!**

The curtains open to reveal the Heavy Magician appearing from her box on top of the stage, tipping her hat to the heroes. "It's you! About time you showed yourself! I've been meaning to knock you out for knocking ME off the Tornado!" Knuckles scowled, angrily threatening the Super-Badnik with his fists.

Unfazed by his idle threats, Heavy Magician enters her box to do something the gang aren't too sure at the moment. "What's it doing?" Tails wondered. After a few seconds of rumbling, the box falls to the ground and split open, surprisingly transforming into Nack the Weasel.

"Nack?!" Sonic remarked, visibly shocked the Heavy transformed into the hooligan.

"Hello there, blue boy. Surprised to see me?" Nack smirked, tipping his hat.

"So the one who shot down the Tornado was actually the Heavy in disguise!" Sonic glared.

"She can cast illusions and use her hat to shapeshift into any person she wants!" Tails observed.

"Neat trick, but I can easily see through your illusions with my Accelerated Vision!" Miguel dodges the bouncing fake Nack on her tail shooting corks at him, web-breaking her illusion to reveal her real form, stunning her for a few seconds.

"I'm tearing you apart!" Knuckles swung a nasty right hook that sends the robot flying for a bit until she recovered. Damaged a bit, the Heavy Magician returns to her box to assume another disguise of that of Bean the Dynamite.

"I can't wait for you to go BOOM with this!" The eccentric fake duck summons several bombs to throw at them. While most of them dodge, it was Tails that was the first to counterattack. He grabs one of the bombs with his tails and throws it right at the magician's face, causing it to explode and cover her with soot. "Think I'm the one who went boom…" She said before dropping her disguise, allowing Sonic to kick her to the ceiling then get spin-attacked back down hard.

"That it? You magicians always have one more trick up your sleeve." Sonic taunted.

And one last trick she does have as Heavy Magician returns to her box for the last time to assume her final illusionary disguise. Her strongest disguise yet. Splitting open comes out the form of Bark the Polar Bear, who takes the phrase "silent, but deadly" to a whole other meaning. Unlike her other disguises, she can't talk, but that's all made up with her new strength. She's capable of countering Knuckles and Spider-Man when it's one-on-one and deflect Sonic and Tails with a single smack. She slams into the ground repeatedly using her hands to make the stage lights and other equipment from above fall on them.

"We're not falling for this trick!" Miguel catches most of the equipment into a large web-ball, throwing it at the Heavy for her to catch barely.

"RAAAAAAH!" Knuckles punches through the web-ball to punch the surprise magician while she was distracted, uppercutting her back to her normal form for Sonic and Tails to deliver the finishing blow.

**BGM End**

The Heavy Magician was defeated and begins to explode. Knowing she can't take it anymore, she admits defeat and vanish from sight to fight them another day as the curtains fall on this boss battle.

"That's right! Run away! Tricks are for losers!" Knuckles taunted the fleeting Heavy as Miguel frees more animals from a nearby Capsule.

"So where's the thing that's gonna get us to the next Zone?" Miguel asked the two-tailed planner.

"Over there." Tails points to the giant revolver launcher near them that'll shoot them to the next Zone as he continues talking, "We'll all have to enter at the same time, so you should get inside your web-ball to fit."

One by one, the heroes inserted themselves in the gun launcher with Miguel wrapped inside his web-ball. "This…is not right." Miguel has no words to describe how ridiculous and unsafe this plan is. Even though he's been here for a while now, the spider from the future is still not used to Sonic's wacky world.

"Don't worry about it. This is gonna be fun." Sonic remarks with his usual, one-minded attitude.

"If we somehow survive this, I'm gonna kill you." Miguel joked, possibly.

"You'll have to catch me first. Blast off!" Sonic shouts, just as the launcher shoots them towards the next "oily" Zone in the horizon.

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: We are nearing the end of this story About 6 more chapters left. I should probably start working on writing the next story, 'cause I'm actually getting pretty hype for the next one to close off this saga.**

**XenoSlayer983: Miles Morales would need a more "proper" introduction if I were to ever include him in this series. Build him up more instead of just throwing him in out of nowhere into one story so it won't feel rush. **

**Next time: Beware of the oily venomous ocean!**

**Question of the Chapter: Heard your opinions on a potential "Sonic Forces" adaptation. What about a "Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth" adaptation? Are you guys also interested in a story based off the comic book storyline where Spider-Man works with the Avengers to stop the Sinister Six from burning the planet into a crisp? With my own ideas of course.**

**BGM End**


	12. Issue 11: The Venomous Ocean

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Classic Sonic: I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog. Isn't that "perfect"? On our way back to Little Planet, one of the Heavies shot down the Tornado and caused us to crash in the desert. We got separated, but it didn't take long for the four of us to reunite and take down that Heavy, but we're still stuck in this Zone. Hmm. Maybe we can use that gun launcher thing to shoot us where we need to, or at least to the next Zone. Hop on, boys! This should be fun!**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Issue 11: The Venomous Ocean_

**Oil Ocean Zone**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Oil Ocean Zone Act 1**

Off the coast of West Side Island is another familiar Zone. A large oil refinery extracting and processing oil for diabolical purposes since it is own by Dr. Eggman. The entire region is a sea that has been blanketed by oil, and is being overcast by an orange sky with a lit horizon with only some clouds and the obscured sun can be seen in the sky.

Piercing through the sky is Team Sonic after being launched from a launcher at the dry plains of Mirage Saloon Zone out to the sea and are about to land somewhere in this oil factory. "Get ready for landing, boys!" Sonic warned his friends. The young hedgehog was able to roll down one of the tall oil towers and land safely on a platform, while the rest of his friends safely glide down next to him.

"Look at that. That crazy plan of yours didn't get us killed. So where did we end up this time?" Knuckles observed this new Zone to his eyes.

"And I thought the Chemical Plant was polluted. Who needs this much oil that they need an entire sea blanketed with it?" Miguel asked, having never been to an oil refinery this big or this polluted in his world.

Tails answers with a serious look, "Eggman! This is his Oil Ocean Zone. Me and Sonic been here before when he took over Mobotropolis. This facility supplies him with over half of his energy resources."

"Is that so?" Miguel ponders this info, formulating a plan in mind.

"So that's what Eggman was carrying on his train back in the desert. The doctors are using the oil from this Zone to fuel their machines and bases over at Little Planet, quite possibly to finish their 'Titanic Monarch'." Sonic discussed, having figured out why Eggman was in Mirage Saloon for, to transport oil from Oil Ocean.

"I see. That gives me a plan." Miguel said, finished formulating his plan that'll severely hurt the doctors. "We'll have to cut their support lines from this Zone. That'll make them lose almost all their energy resources and delay their plans. That'll give us enough time to return to Little Planet and shut them down permanently. And as a bonus, it'll clean up the environment over the region."

"I'm liking the way you think, Spidey. This will certainly make Eggman cranky. Me and Tails can be the tour guides. You two just gotta keep up." Sonic smiled, giving an approving thumbs-up. Sonic and Tails leads the group through this oily refinery, knocking down Public Eye officers patrolling the area before jumping over spikes sliding on a green pipe as they take care of the Aquis and Gohla badniks in their way.

"Been a while since we fought one of the Sinister Six I've noticed. Who's left we haven't beat up yet?" Knuckles asked, gliding over an oil pool.

"Goblin and Venom. Unlike the others, those two will be tricky to beat." Miguel replied, web-striking on a row of Octus badniks.

"What makes them special?" Knuckles asked.

Miguel explains while easily knocking down Public Eye officers that are in his way, "Goblin is a rabble-rousing lunatic with a bag of tricks like energy grenades and VR hallucination powers. Not to mention the madman that formed this new Sinister Six and sent us into this dimension in the first place. Venom is a little more complicated, part of it is because he's my older brother, Kron Stone."

"Oh yeah. Forgot that guy is your brother behind that alien slime." Sonic remarked.

"Wait, seriously?" Knuckles asked, slightly shock Venom is Miguel's older brother.

"Older HALF-brother to be specific. He's a mass murderer bonded with an alien symbiote from the past that makes him VERY dangerous. Even without it, he's still a bully that takes enjoyment in other people's pain." Miguel described his older psychotic brother.

"Yeesh. You weren't kidding about your family being complicated. Your father is a selfish CEO that effectively put multiple dimensions in danger, and your brother is a psychotic jerk bonded with space goop." Sonic remarked, attacking more Badniks that failed to shoot him.

"2099, the year of craziness. Can't wait 'til New Years." Miguel joked.

**BGM End**

Soon, the heroes arrived in an area that controls the Zone's dangerous flumes from going out of control and could potential destroy the whole refinery. "This area controls the Zone's steam vents. The main valves shouldn't be too far away from here." Tails said.

"Do you guys still use oil in 2099, or is everything electricity-based or something?" Sonic asked the future web-warrior.

"No, we still do. Oil has become eco-friendlier and less energy-intensive by the time of 2099, unlike this place. This oil refinery is poisonous to the region and if left uncheck could be rather disastrous if someone were to carelessly throw away a match stick and set everything ablaze." Miguel replied.

"That would be a disaster. Another reason to shut this place down again." Sonic said, agreeing to shut down the Oil Ocean and weaken Eggman's forces. As Sonic prepares to take a step forward, something immediately stopped him in place as it was thrown to the ground in front of him. "What the?" He looks down to see the head of a humanoid robot based on the typical plumber. Eggman's Meter Droid, a robot created by the mad doctor that used to operate in this zone until its head was sliced off and thrown at Sonic.

"Um, where did this head come from?" Sonic asked, picking up the head of the Meter Droid.

**BGM-Spider-Man 3 Game OST-Black Suit Theme #1**

"_**Bwahahahaha! I see you have found the little toy I was playing to keep myself entertained 'til your arrival." **_

The heroes turn to see the psychotic half-brother of Miguel O'Hara, Kron Stone, aka Venom 2099 ominously clinging on one of the towers taunting them from above. "Kron! I was wondering when you'd show up." Miguel glares at his brother.

"So that's Venom, huh? He's a lot uglier than I imagined." Knuckles mocked, putting his fists up ready for a showdown.

Venom dropped down to have a more personal confrontation with his brother and friends on the same platform around the fiery steam vents. "Haven't seen you in a while, slimy." Sonic fearlessly said, recognizing Venom 2099 from the time-traveling adventure, something which Venom has no memory of whatsoever.

Venom doesn't care what he's talking about as he shows off his acidic saliva dropping from his monstrous tongue, _**"I don't know who you are, but I recognize the spider with you. I have been waiting for you, Spider-Man. I know you have defeated most of the Sinister Six, looking for these glowing gemstones, yes?" **_Kron takes out the red Chaos Emerald he found on his own and taunts the heroes with it.

"You know I am! Give it to us, Kron! Both this world and our world are in danger of total destruction in less than 2 hours if we don't stop Eggman and Alchemax! We need the emeralds' power to save everyone! Do the right thing for once in your life!" Miguel argued with his corrupted brother, but he doesn't seem too concerned with the impending doom that will cover the two worlds.

"_**Why do I want to 'save' what I want to destroy myself? You will not get this power, little spider, for I will use it to rip both worlds to SHREDS!" **_Venom swallows his Chaos Emerald giving him an incredible power boost and a dark red aura, roaring loudly at the heroes as they prepare to do battle.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Spider-Man Unlimited Game OST-Boss!**

"_**I will destroy everything! Mwahahahaha!" **_Venom 2099 cackled evilly, managing to attack half of his foes with his flailing tendrils while the other half managed to dodge.

Spider-Man kicks the evil symbiote in the face before dodging his brutal slam using his Decoy while asking, "What's the deal, Kron? Why team up with Goblin and the Sinister Six?"

"_**Easy. For the role of a lifetime!" **_Venom shoots a tendril at his brother, pulling him over his head and slamming him into the ground multiple times before throwing him behind, _**"I will enjoy killing you and everything you care about. Then I will go after dear ol' daddy and destroy him and his company. And once we get back the Phantom Ruby from Eggman and Patel, the Sinister Six will bring ruin to ALL worlds! It'll be so much fun! Bwahahahaha!" **_

"We won't let you, you slimy parasite!" Sonic quipped.

"_**Parasite?!" **_Venom took offense to that.

Sonic dodges Venom's shockwave roar and attacks him with multiple Spin-Attacks around his body before using one Homing Attack that bounces him back, _**"Stand still, you filthy blue ant!" **_Venom webs Sonic's feet to the ground, preventing him from moving.

"I'm stuck!" Sonic said, unable to break free from the icky alien goop.

"Hold on! I'll free ya!" Knuckles assisted.

"Does Venom have any weaknesses?!" Tails asked Miguel as they do their best working together against the mighty symbiote.

"Fire and sonic vibrations!" Miguel replied, jumping over a tendril whip.

"Then knock him to those open furnaces!" Tails points to one of the green flames from the popping gas-burn platforms. Miguel jumps over leaving a Decoy to trick Venom into attacking to web-throw his evil brother into the open flames, burning his symbiote as he screams in pain.

"_**RAAAAAGH! THAT STINGS! You will PAY for that!" **_Venom lunges forward while morphing into a giant mouth that almost devours Spidey and Tails if it wasn't for the freed Sonic coming to the rescue.

"You ain't eating anybody on my watch!" Sonic declared.

"_**I will devour everything!" **_Venom rushes towards the blue blur only to get tackled by Knuckles close another furnace. Knuckles tries to punch him to it but was grabbed by Venom, cackling as he almost throws the echidna into it instead. Spider-Man pulls on Venom's head with his webbing into his fist, freeing Knuckles as he punches the alien symbiote to the flames again, weakening him while also making him angrier.

"_**You are only making your deaths that more painful!" **_Venom pounds his fist to the ground, almost surprising his enemies with multiple tendril spikes surging from beneath their feet. The Chaos Emerald's power within him grows as so is his size, growing twice his normal size into a titan of immense ultimate strength. _**"Do not underestimate the symbiote! I will grind the bones of those who oppose me!" **_He lashes out his hungry tendrils from his body at all his targets, who are trying so hard not to get impaled by them or smacked to the oily ocean.

"We gotta knock him to all the furnaces!" Miguel recommended, swinging above the rampaging tendrils.

"Me, Tails, and Knuckles will tackle him from behind! Spidey, you get his attention on the front since he likes you so much!" Sonic ordered.

"Shouldn't be too hard. He already hates me." Miguel quipped.

Venom lashes more tendrils at his little brother to hopefully kill him this time. Miguel keep dodging with all he's got, from reflexes to Accelerated Decoys, until he's front and center before his evil big brother. "I'm over here, Kron! You want me so bad? I'm right here!" Miguel launches several weblines at him in an attempt to pull Kron down onto multiple furnaces.

"_**What are you trying to pull?" **_Venom asked, struggling to break free from the webbing.

"You, obviously!" Miguel quipped.

"_**Ha ha! It will not work! You do not have the strength to stop me!" **_Venom taunted, slowing breaking free from the webbing.

"Oh yeah? Pay attention! You'll be left impressed!" Sonic taunts the big bad symbiote as he stands behind him along with Tails and Knuckles.

"_**What? When did you…?" **_A surprised Venom was a little shocked to see the mobians standing behind him while he is being pulled from the front by Spider-Man. Team Sonic work together charging up a Triple Spin Dash, and when fully charged and with Miguel's help from the other side, smashes Venom right on top of the furnaces, burning him to his defeat.

**BGM End**

"_**WRAAAAAAARAAAGH…!" **_Venom yelled in pain as he shrinks back to normal size. The heroes stand together to see the weak symbiote slowly walking out of the fire and down to his panting knees, vomiting out the Chaos Emerald as he's too weak to use its power anymore, allowing Miguel to web it into his hand, making it five Chaos Emeralds in their collection.

"It's over, Kron!" Miguel declared.

Though he is defeated, however, Venom still found something funny that got him laughing weakly, _**"Mwahahahaha! Over? Yeeeessss. I think it is, for you."**_

"What are you saying?" Miguel asked, thinking Kron has one last trick up his symbiote sleeves.

"_**I have been keeping you busy. Rigged the oil with explosives while I was having my fun with you." **_Kron informed them of this alarming and scary news.

"Kron, you're insane! If they go off, this entire Zone will go up in flames!" Miguel retorted, but before they could figure out a way to stop the explosives from setting off, it was too late. The explosives Venom installed to several sections of Oil Ocean counted to zero just in time. Explosions were happening across the refinery as their fire ignite the oil and set the entire Zone ablaze and caused the region to become darker with a dark red sky, polluting the Zone with a deadly gas that got the heroes coughing while Venom just laughs at them.

"_**It is too late. You are all doomed! Nyahahahaha! See you in hell!" **_Venom continued laughing monstrously as he disappears into the smoke.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Oil Ocean Zone Act 2**

"On the bright side, this should really tick off the doctors." Sonic joked between each cough from the polluted gas.

"It's hard to breath or see through this smog." Tails coughed.

"My mask is able to filter out the smoke, and I can use my Accelerated Vision to see through it." Miguel said, mostly unfazed by this heavy smog. Using his enhanced eye prowess, Miguel spots a chain switch hanging from the ceiling that he believes will clear up the air. He attaches a webline on it and pulls it down clearing the air of the deadly gas, allowing them all to properly breath, "That should clear up the gas momentarily until we can reach the main valves." He said.

"Or else what will happen?" Knuckles asked.

"Oh, you know, you'll experience the biggest oil spill this world has ever seen, followed by a massive explosion that will kill us." Miguel quipped.

"Yup, that would be bad." Sonic says, revving up a Super Peel Out to speed off momentarily, "Let's move it to it, guys!" He dashes away alongside his friends through this ablaze Zone.

Along the way, more Aquis badniks and Public Eye officers riding hoverbikes spotted the intruders running through the zone, "It's Spider-Man and his friends! You 'heroes' are gonna regret the mess you made here!" A P.E. officer blamed them for Oil Ocean going up in flames.

"It wasn't us! It was the walking space slime that looks like Spider-Man that caused this!" Sonic retorted.

"Not helping!" Miguel remarked as their enemies shoots at them and the surrounding oil, which causes more fire to erupt, "Are you people crazy?! This place is already on fire!"

"Between those containers! Hurry!" Tails spotted two large oil containers dead ahead. They pass through it as Spider-Man creates a web net to trap the goons that followed them between the opening.

Soon after that, the deadly gas slowly starts to return polluting the air and causing the others to cough, "That deadly smoke is coming back! We gotta hurry!" Knuckles said, waving his hand to blow away the gas around his face.

"Into the cannons!" Sonic points to a yellow and green checkered cannon they can use to further escape from their enemies and get to their destination faster. They each jump into it and are launched across the Zone above the exploding flames while escaping enemy pursuit. They land next to the room they were looking for: The central control of the Zone's oil pipelines.

"This is it! This is where we can shut down their oil!" Tails said, pointing to inside of the oil control room.

"Not much time. Let's cut the feed to this region and clear the air!" Miguel said.

Sonic, Knuckles, and Spider-Man are turning every valve to the opposite direction to turn them off, slowly shutting down the oil pipelines. Meanwhile, Tails does the same thing on the computer console, cutting off the doctors' local power supply and activating the Zone's filtration system to clear the air of the deadly smog, effectively preventing Oil Ocean Zone from blowing up but still put a huge dent in the doctors' plan now they've lost access to their oil supply.

"We shut down the pipelines." Sonic said, panting a little from turning those large slow valves.

"And we got the rest. No more oil is flowing." Knuckles said, taking Miguel's efforts in account.

"We did it! With the flow stopped and the lines shut down, not only we cleared the air of the smog, the doctors have lost power to all their bases in this entire region and thensome!" Tails happily announced.

"And still caused enough damage to make this facility unusable for a good while. Guess Kron did do something good for once, even though that wasn't his intention." Miguel smiled behind the mask as they walked out the room towards a bridge over an oil pool.

**BGM End**

As the team walked over the yellow outcrops off the bridge, something pink that resembles tentacles emerge from the oil and wrap around the leftmost and central platforms, surprising the heroes as they barely avoided being pulled beneath the oil and destroyed with the golden parts of the bridge.

"The shock was that?!" Miguel asked who tried to pull them into the oil.

"I knew they'd figure it out." Sonic joked, having a very good guess who tried to ambush them.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Ruby Delusions**

Surfacing from the oily sea is their attacker, an angry looking Patel piloting a giant, Octus badnik-based submarine called the "Mega Octus". "What have you imbeciles done to our oil refinery?!" Patel angrily asked the heroes who ruined her Oil Ocean.

"Don't blame this mess all on us. Venom had a hand firing this place up." Sonic quipped, grinning to annoy Patel.

"We needed that oil for our bases and to jumpstart our Titanic Monarch, and we can't keep wasting time with you four still in our way! Perhaps I shall steal those Chaos Emeralds you have to make up for this loss!" Patel threatened to steal their five Chaos Emeralds for the extra power they needed to complete their plans.

"You already have the Phantom Ruby! We're not giving you more jewelry to abuse!" Miguel quipped.

"Then I'll just take them from your corpses!" Patel re-enters her Mega Octus and has it dive back down again. Using her mech, Patel fires a detached tentacle with a spiked tip emerging from the oil to attack the heroes, but they easily dodged it before it submerged back into the oil's surface.

"Reusing tactics from Eggman's old submarine mobile? You sure you're a genius? You're like that one kid that copies off another person's homework and writes it a little differently to avoid plagiarism." Sonic mocked, knowingly angering Patel to unleash four tentacles with laser cannons attached at their tips to fire on the heroes. Miguel webs up the cannons while the rest of the gang knock them back to the oil so they won't be a bother again.

Following up that failure, Patel unleashes four tentacles emerging form the oil, all with spherical cannons on their tips shooting at the team. "Destroy the tentacles before they submerge more platforms!" Tails commanded. Each of the four destroy their own tentacle, preventing them from submerging more platforms into the oil.

With her tentacles destroyed, the Mega Octus' main body re-emerges from the oil confronting the heroes directly. **"Cease your interference!" **Ock threatened, using whatever weaponary she has left to destroy the heroes.

"Not on my worst day, Ock!" Sonic smashes through the hatch to destroy the Mega Octus inside while the others attack it from the outside.

"**Stop, you fools! You're going to ruin everything!" **Patel's words were left to deaf ears as the heroes unleash all they got, from both the inside and out, destroying her Mega Octus. Sonic jumps out of the mech back onto a safe platform with his friends as Patel sinks with her exploding Mega Octus into the deep oily sea, but most likely was still able to escape beyond their sight.

**BGM End**

"Seeing Patel angry means we're doing something good, but it won't last. We still don't have a means returning to Little Planet." Miguel commented on their current situation, pondering their next move.

"Maybe we can take this submarine." Tails pointed.

"Submarine?" Miguel turns to see Sonic freeing animals from a Capsule on top of a parked submarine nearby.

"I don't see how this will help us reach a floating planet in the sky." Miguel said, meeting with his friends on top of the submarine. Suddenly, to their surprise, the submarine starts to hover to the sky. "I stand corrected." Miguel casually remarked.

The submarine then takes off to the skies, heading towards a pre-programmed destination. "Uh, where is this thing taking us?" Sonic asked.

"Anywhere but here. That place reeks of pollution." Knuckles quipped, don't care where this flying submarine is taking them, just as long as it takes them out of the smelly burnt Oil Ocean Zone and somewhere close to a floating continent that'll help them save the world.

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: If there is no delay on my end, this story should end this week. At the very most, Sunday. Then I'll start working on the next story.**

**XenoSlayer983: I'm still debating with myself whether I want Miles to originate from another dimension or have him born in the main dimension. For now, don't expect Miles Morales to appear anytime soon.**

**superjoeyf721: Simply put, the Sinister Six takes the world hostage by threatening to burn it with satellites if they don't get what they want. Spider-Man and the Avengers come kick their asses! Look up a plot summary on the internet. You don't really need me to explain the whole plot.**

**Next time: Goblin vs. Heavy King! Battle for the Master Emerald!**

**Question of the Chapter: Rank these villains from most dangerous to least dangerous and explain why: Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, Doctor Eggman, and Salem.**

**BGM End **


	13. Issue 12: Volcanic Laughter

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Spider-Man 2099: The name's Miguel O'Hara. I'm the Spider-Man from the Year 2099. After literally shooting ourselves from the desert, we found ourselves at the doctors' oil refinery. Apparently they need all this oil to fuel their devices. We managed to shut the place down before it all went to smoke thanks to my psychotic alien-bonded brother, Venom, tried to blow us up with the place. Seems this submarine we found is already on a set course to another location. Hope it's Little Planet. We don't have much time left.**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Issue 12: Volcanic Laughter_

**Several miles away from unknown destination…**

**BGM-Sonic Adventure OST-Tornado & Scramble ...for Sky Chase**

"Are we there yet?" Sonic asked.

"We just left 10 minutes ago. Be patient." Miguel shut him up.

The impatient hedgehog and his friends hitch a ride on a flying submarine from Oil Ocean Zone after shutting the facility down to be unusable for the doctors' schemes. They are now flying above the clean sea en-route to a destination they know nothing about, for now anyways.

"Any idea WHERE we're going exactly?" Sonic asked his squad about their unexpected flight.

"I think this submarine was pre-programmed to unload oil and other supplies at an unknown location from Oil Ocean Zone." Tails guessed.

"Maybe it's Little Planet and are finally on our way there." Knuckles smiled, believing their journey is almost over.

"Maybe. I am seeing something 'floating' in the distance…" Miguel narrows his eyes using his Accelerated Vision to see miles ahead where they might be headed. As they move through the clouds, he slowly sees a floating island that was previously thought fell to the ocean recently. "Wait. Isn't that Angel Island floating over there?" Miguel spotted Angel Island, floating in the sky once again.

"WHAT?!" Knuckles shouted in shock as they seem to be returning to Angel Island after just leaving the island not too long ago to travel to Mirage Saloon.

"Without the Phantom Ruby interfering with the Master Emerald, Angel Island is back floating in the air!" Tails deduced.

"But we were JUST HERE! Why do we keep going in circles?!" Sonic complained, exasperated of this roundabout way returning to Little Planet, if they will ever return to it that is.

**BGM End**

**Lava Reef Zone, Angel Island**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Lava Reef Zone (Act 1)**

The flying submarine enters from above Angel Island's active volcano into its deep underground area. The gang feel themselves losing balance and are tripping wildly as the submarine unexpectedly crashes into a nearby pit of lava. "JUMP!" Sonic shouts, jumping with the others onto the rocky roads as their submarine sinks into the lava.

"This place is as hot as ever." Sonic joked about the heat while inside the volcano.

"Lava Reef Zone." Knuckles introduced, well familiar with this great volcano.

"We're in the heart of an active volcano. Why was the submarine programmed to come here? Was it a trap to keep us off the doctors' trail, or are they searching for something, because I am seeing some not-so good company not far away?" Miguel pondered, wondering what interest the doctors might have in Lava Reef Zone.

Knuckles seems to have one idea come to mind and immediately gets worried, "The Master Emerald!" He believes is what the doctors are after.

"Why would Eggman want to steal the Master Emerald again? He and Patel already have the Phantom Ruby, which is at least as powerful as your big rock." Sonic replied.

"We did just trash their oil factory." Knuckles responded.

"Technically, Venom trashed it…" Sonic quipped.

Knuckles growls angrily, "You know what I mean! Patel wanted to steal our Chaos Emeralds for extra power, so they're going for the next best thing stealing the Master Emerald! I just got this island back in the air! I don't want it to fall again!"

"Well we're here anyways. Might as well check it out and make sure the Master Emerald is safe, and drive out the docs' little army off the island until we can find the means getting to Little Planet. No offense, but I am getting tired coming here all in one day." Miguel suggested their plan, checking on the Master Emerald to make sure it won't get stolen.

"Fine. Need to stretch my legs for standing on that flying sub for too long anyways." Sonic quipped, passively accepting the mission.

"Let's go! I know the best routes to the Master Emerald!" Knuckles leads the team this time because of his familiarity with Lava Reef Zone.

They carefully travel through this magma-filled mining area, making sure they don't get caught by any lava spills. Knuckles breaks down a metal fence with "KEEP OUT" signs as they continue through the Zone, defeating Badniks and Public Eye hordes while noticing other volcanoes and mountains in the horizon.

"Whew! Forget what I said before. It's a lot hotter than the last time we were here!" Sonic commented, sweating from the great heat emitting from this volcano.

"It's a lot hotter this time with the volcano fully active now that there is no Death Egg blocking it. It would suck if the volcano were to erupt." Tails wiped the sweat from his forehead while flying through the air to hopefully cool himself off, but it only makes him hotter.

"Considering how our luck has been, I wouldn't be surprised." Miguel quipped, zipping and bouncing off the rocky terrain while blitzing down enemies.

When they approached another iron fence area, they felt the ground rumbling because of Eggman's Rock Drill on the other side drilling in one place. "Stay still here! It's drilling through the ground, right above the lava!" Knuckles warned everyone, making sure they don't move just a second. The Rock Drill drills through the ground, causing the floor to crumble, while falling down to the lava pool below as Knuckles predicted. Its destruction caused the lava to erupt a large pillar before the heroes, getting a small awe from them until it settled down.

"Everyone okay?" Knuckles asked his friends.

"We're fine, Knuckles, but I can faintly feel more rumbling around the Zone!" Sonic felt more drilling in other sections of the volcano.

"I'm seeing a larger seismic disturbance not far from here. Possibly from a bigger drone than the one that melted." Miguel sensed, knowing there's a stronger drill drone somewhere in the area.

"Let's go find it and smash it into pieces!" Knuckles declared, but before they continue he shows the team a hidden room storing Flame Shields that'll protect them from the heat, "Let's also use these Fire Shields. They'll better protect us from the heat and lava."

"Knuckles, you are a life savior." Sonic smiled, taking his own Fire Shield as do the others.

With the Fire Shield equipped, it has become much easier traveling through the dreaded heat of this heated Zone. Miguel is impressed they're able to walk on lava pools without taking any damage because of his Fire Shield, giving him an advantage over his less-protected enemies that quickly get knocked out. The gang encounter more Rock Drills along the way, destroying some of the them while letting the other fall to their destruction. But the one they're looking for is the stronger one. The bigger drill causing seismic activity over the Zone. The Drillerdroid.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Danger on the Dance Floor**

The heroes arrive in the depths of Lava Reef, where Miguel could see an ambush coming from above their heads. "Seeing something coming up above!" Miguel warned them to stop, then jump back when the armored Drillerdroid came to take them out.

"That armor looks a little thick. How are we gonna damage it?" Sonic asked, wanting to hear an attack plan.

"Just wait. I think it's going to demonstrate." Miguel replied, having a hunch how they're going to beat this Super-Badnik, and for now it involves simply waiting and dodging.

After it failed to ambush the heroes, the Drillerdroid drills into the terrain, causing rocks and harmful stalactites to rain from the ceiling that the heroes were able to avoid. "Do we attack _now_?" Knuckles asked, sounding impatient.

"Not yet." Miguel replied, wanting him to stay still for a second.

"Why?" Knuckles asked him what is his plan.

The machine continued drilling into the terrain but ended up drilling too far and increase the volcano's pressure. "Oh, I see what your plan is." Tails noticed, figuring out Miguel's plan as he watches the drilled-in lava erupt and partially damage the invincible armor.

"Though it's internal components are heat-proof, it's armor is not. It can't withstand the magma-leveled temperatures its innards can resist without taking damage." Miguel explained his plan to defeat the Drillerdroid.

"I see. So repeated exposure to the lava will eventually destroy the armor. This fight just got pathetically easier." Sonic grinned, now knowing the plan to defeat the machine.

The heroes lured the machine into causing as many eruptions as possible, slowly and surely destroying its armor until it blew to pieces and exposed its weak point in the central area. "The armor's destroyed. Now we can finish this." Spider-Man stated this is the time to attack. The heroes work together surrounding the machine and attack it with their unique skills, weakening it to the point it could barely stand and prevent Knuckles from punching through its central body, destroying the Drillerdroid.

**BGM End**

"That wasn't so tough. Though if it continued, it would've caused a major eruption that would not be so good for the island." Knuckles said, glad they destroyed that bot before it caused major damage.

"But it didn't because it was too stupid. Where to next, Knuckles?" Sonic quipped, asking Knuckles for directions to the Master Emerald.

Knuckles points an elevator platform attached with wheels nearby, "We'll use that Transport. It'll take use to the crystal caverns that will lead us closer to the Master Emerald." He said.

The gang walked onboard the elevator which can only be activated by a Spin Dash. "I got this." Sonic performs a Spin Dash, causing the wheels to rotate down, descending the elevator deeper into Lava Reef Zone.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Lava Reef Zone (Act 2)**

Arriving at the bottom of the Transport's shaft, the heroes found themselves in a beautiful crystal cavern deeper below Lava Reef where the local magma has been cooled and turned into igneous rocks.

"Wooow. I forgot how pretty this part of Lava Reef looked like." Tails said with an amazed smile, taking pleasure from being in this cool-blue crystal cavern.

"I admit. Your world may be a bit wacky, but it does have some gorgeous scenery. A good contrast from the high-tech city of Nueva Vale." Miguel complimented.

"Glad you approve." Sonic joked.

"Shouldn't I be the one saying that since we're in MY island?" Knuckles asked, staring at the blue jokester.

"Yeah, but you were a little too _slow_." Sonic quipped, hearing Knuckles' lowly growl.

"Whatever. From what it looks like, the doctors' forces have also set up more mining contraptions in this area trying to find the secret entrance to Hidden Palace Zone." Knuckles scanned the area, finding more of the doctors' forces in this area also.

"That's where you're keeping the Master Emerald?" Miguel questioned, remarking from the mention of "Hidden Palace Zone".

"Yup. Too bad those knuckleheads will NEVER figure out where it is, because I'M too clever." Knuckles replied smugingly and proud.

"This coming from THE knucklehead that got tricked by Eggman?" Sonic casually joked, crossing his arms.

"SHUT UP, WILL YA!?" Knuckles yelled to his unfazed face.

While Knuckles is annoyed and throwing a temper tantrum from Sonic's joke, Miguel sees something interesting in the distance with his Accelerated Vision, "What's that? Am I seeing a rocket over there?"

"Rocket?" Tails questioned, which also got the immediate attention of Sonic and Knuckles when they step forward and sees a giant rocket ship bearing Eggman's insignia in the distance.

"What's the rocket for? Why does Eggman have it?" Sonic asked.

"Probably to reach over there." Miguel points to the clear night sky where Little Planet is barely visible through the cracks in the ceiling where the Death Egg used to be.

"Is that Little Planet? Didn't think we were so close unless the island moved. Still seems a bit far away though." Sonic gazed, barely able to see Little Planet through the night sky.

"They must have built that rocket to reach Little Planet if they got their hands on the Master Emerald." Miguel proclaimed.

"Great! We can use that rocket to reach Little Planet from here!" Tails happily suggested.

"Not before we make sure the Master Emerald is safe." Knuckles reminded them of their current mission.

Lyla speaks up from Miguel's wrist watch with some news they might want to hear, _'You better hurry. I'm picking up two enemy readings approaching the Hidden Palace. One of them appears to be in possession of a Chaos Emerald.'_

"Think I have good guess who that might be." Miguel remarks, having a very good hunch it might be the leader of the Sinister Six with the Chaos Emerald.

'_Not to mention, another enemy reading is trying to hijack the rocket.' _Lyla added more bad news.

"We need that rocket to get to Little Planet. Me and Tails will go and try to stop the launch while you two deal with whoever's trying to steal the Master Emerald." Sonic ordered Miguel and Knuckles to secure to Master Emerald while he and Tails go to the rocket.

Knuckles nods to the plan, "Okay. But just in case, I might have another idea how we can get to Little Planet." He said, thinking to himself another means traveling to Little Planet from this Zone.

"Alright. Let's get down to business!" Sonic dashes to the rocket with Tails while Spider-Man follows Knuckles to the Master Emerald.

**BGM End**

* * *

**With Sonic and Tails…**

The classic duo arrived onboard the giant rocket ship, which has already begun lift off and launching out of Angel Island. "We're too late! The rocket has launched!" Tails remarked worriedly.

Sonic responds, "But they don't have the Master Emerald. Who could be-?"

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Hi-Spec Robo Go!**

Near them came the sound of a motor engine revving up for a drive. When the duo turned around, they had a few quick seconds to dodge the swinging giant mace coming from the Heavy Rider riding on her trusty steed, Jimmy the Moto Bug.

"Should've guessed it was one of the Heavies that started the launch early." Sonic jumped over Rider's mace coming at him at high speed.

"They probably don't want us going to Little Planet so they'll be the ones to steal the Phantom Ruby!" Tails dodged the slamming mace coming towards him.

The flying fox dodges the large mace swings to give Sonic the chance to attack, rapidly attacking the thrill-seeking Heavy Rider with Spin Attacks while also giving an opening for Tails to exploit and knock the Super-Badnik back. She revs up some speed with her Moto Bug companion and zooms towards the duo with her mace held in front of it, leaving behind a flaming trail.

"Not a chance, boltbrain!" Sonic mocked, joining Tails to jump over her dash attack. Heavy Rider was not done. She drives up onto the ramps attached on the rocket with Sonic on hot pursuit. The two each make a daredevilish stunts over two flamethrowers on the ramp as they hear the crowd cheering in their heads as they pose in midair while random confetti rain down on them as they continue their little race on the ramps.

"You're an impressive rider. But I'm sorry to say, no ride is faster than me!" Sonic charges and launches his Spin Dash, knocking away Jimmy in a blur that confuses Heavy Rider long enough for Tails to attack her to the air. Sonic and Tails stand together and work together charging up a Spin Dash and launch themselves into the air, double-knocking Heavy Rider while posing to her defeat.

**BGM End**

Heavy Rider explodes but is still able to make her escape, while Jimmy flees from the scene never to be seen again. "That takes care of that bot and her Moto pet off our rocket as we cruise to Little Planet finally." Sonic rubbed the dust from his body after their victory, while Tails frees the animals trapped in another floating Capsule.

"But what about Spider-Man and Knuckles? We weren't able to stop the rocket in time. How are they going to meet us at Little Planet?" Tails asked, worried about how their friends will meet them at Little Planet.

Sonic and Tails turn to face the approaching Little Planet together while Sonic says, "Have faith, little buddy. Knuckles says he has a plan and I believe in him. We'll see them there and beat the doctors together." He smiled, causing Tails to happily smile too as the lights lit up at the miniature planet they are finally approaching.

* * *

**With Knuckles and Spider-Man…**

Meanwhile, with Sonic and Tails preoccupied with Heavy Rider, Spider-Man and Knuckles arrives at the Master Emerald shrine in Hidden Palace Zone where the Master Emerald is resting on its pedestals surrounded by other stone relics on their pedestals resembling larger Chaos Emeralds called "Super Emeralds" that were created in their absence.

"That's the Master Emerald, right? Pretty big." Miguel commented.

"It's more powerful than all seven Chaos Emeralds, which makes it a target for people wanting to steal it like Eggman." Knuckles told him.

The two then hears a rumbling from the ceiling as if something managed to break into this sacred chamber to steal the big gem, "Alright! Whoever you are, better show yourself so I can give you a knuckle sandwich off my island!" Knuckles threatened the incoming intruder.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Hard Boiled Heavies Mischief Theme**

Descending from a huge chain claw is none other than the surprise return of Heavy King, leader of the Hard Boiled Heavies here to steal the Master Emerald for himself. "It's one of the Heavies! I think it's their leader trying to steal the Master Emerald!"

"Grrr!" Knuckles growls as he sees Heavy King attempting to steal his gem. Knuckles reminisce the last time the Master Emerald was stolen in the form of a humorous cartoon thought bubble. He remembers when Dr. Eggman stole it and electrocuted the guardian when he attempted to retrieve it back. Knuckles gets angry after remembering that painful, embarrassing event and throws a little temper tantrum all the way to the Heavy King. "YOU ARE 'NOT' STEALING MY EMERALD!" Knuckles uses a Spin Dash to free the big gem from the Heavy King's grasp and gets ready to fight him alongside Spider-Man, but before they could duke it out, another new player enters the altar.

"Then would it be alright with you that I take your gem?" A familiar crazy cackled got the immediate attention of the three, mostly Miguel since he recognizes that insane voice.

"I was right to think it was you that has the Chaos Emerald coming, Goblin." Miguel turns to face Goblin 2099 flying to the shrine holding his green Chaos Emerald.

"Ah, Spider-Man. I have seen so much of this dimension I almost forgot what your pathetic face looks like." Goblin smiled creepily.

"How did you find this place, you creep?" Knuckles questioned the madman from the future.

Goblin smiles, showing him the Emerald Radar he picked up from Scrap Brain Zone earlier, "I have been tracking the emeralds you fools stole from my Sinister Six with my handy dandy Emerald Radar. But then it picked up the energy of this bigger gem, and I can't help but be allured by it's luster. So much power calling to me. I can't wait to use it for my own!"

"Neither you NOR this stupid robot are laying a FINGER on the Master Emerald not as I live!" Knuckles declared, threatening to beat up both villains to protect his gem.

"Poor choice of words for someone about to die." Goblin said, switching to a more menacing tone as he gets his bombs ready to throw at all three of his enemies, including the Heavy King.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Spider-Man Unlimited Game OST-Boss!**

"Chaos Emeralds! Master Emerald! Phantom Ruby! They will all be mine! To BRING the worlds to TOTAL CHAOS!" Goblin uses his Chaos Emerald to enhance his VR Illusion powers to summon multiple copies of himself, each with a cackle just as scary as the other.

"Illusions! Strike them fast!" Spider-Man zipped to the air, web-striking each laughing illusion into oblivion until he could locate the real Goblin.

"You sure they're illusions, because these explosions definitely feel real!" Knuckles remarked, doing his best dodging the multiple explosions from the rain of energy bombs from three fake Goblins.

The real Goblin is flying towards the Master Emerald to further enhance his power while the heroes are busy fighting his illusions. "Now you are mine!" Goblin approaches the Master Emerald but gets fired on by a barrage of bullets from Heavy King's scepter. Though he can't speak, Heavy King makes it very clear with his actions that the Master Emerald belongs to him, and neither the heroes nor the Goblin will get in his way.

"Away you bucket of bolts before I turn you to scrap!" Goblin throws his bombs at the Heavy King, who is jumping away from his explosions until he lands on top of the Master Emerald. King charges himself with the Master Emerald's power, enhancing his abilities to the next level. "That's my power you're siphoning!" Goblin tackles the Heavy off the gem to stop him from absorbing more power. Heavy King stops himself and hovers around the shrine, firing a purple beam from his scepter that knocks Goblin off the air. The Heavy leader uses another beam across the floor, emitting shockwaves that destroy Goblin's illusions and knock Spider-Man and Knuckles to one of the stone emeralds.

"How dare you use the Master Emerald's power?!" Knuckles yells, rushing to repeatedly punch the robot leader, but was blocked by his shield of spheres that were soon used to fire the echidna away.

"Gotcha! Hold on!" Miguel attaches a webline saving Knuckles, throwing him back to surprise-punch King and allow Spidey to web-strike and brutally web-slam him to the ground.

With Heavy King away from the Master Emerald, Goblin found his chance to absorb some power from it for himself, "Thanks for the cover, Spider." Goblin mocked his foe with a smile.

"Oh no." Miguel remarks with worry.

Goblin's eye glows a menacing green as he gains a flaming green aura as he hovers around the shrine with new power thanks to the Master Emerald. "Power…yes! This is what power truly is! Power to destroy Alchemax! To destroy the world! To destroy YOU!" Goblin's hallucinations have been given an immense boost, trapping everyone in some green-hellish nightmare as he summons the upper half of a giant demonic silhouette version of himself to hover behind him always.

"Is this real?" Knuckles asked while trapped in this hallucination.

"Real enough to hurt! We gotta be careful!" Miguel warned him.

"FALL!" Goblin commands his shadow to fire lasers from its hands. The heroes dodge them as Spider-Man goes in for a web-strike but was deflected by a backhand from the shadow. Knuckles does his best dodging Goblin's new attacks while making a rush to attack. He leaps from the stone emeralds to punch him but was block the shadow's hand. "You're weak!" Goblin taunted.

"And you're open!" Spider-Man slides under the shadow to web himself upwards to kick Goblin from the jaw, then web-throws Knuckles to punch him in the chest.

The illusion starts to weaken as Goblin takes more hits. "You cannot stop me!" Goblin persisted to counter but was surprisingly knocked back when Heavy King absorbs more power from the Master Emerald. "Still want to challenge me, machine? PERISH!" Goblin commands his shadow to fire lasers, which the Heavy King counters with his own, entering a sorta beam clash between the enhanced villains while Spider-Man and Knuckles watch from the ground.

"They keep using the Master Emerald's power! They're almost equally matched!" Knuckles observed, scowling from the villains abusing the Master Emerald's energy.

"Then let's wait for one of them to reveal an opening, then finish him off first before going after the other!" Miguel suggested, having a plan to defeat both villains at the same time.

Goblin throws his pumpkin bombs Heavy King shoots all but a few down and forced to block them with his sphere shield. He was still alive with some scratches, but strong enough to fire a large beam from his scepter at Goblin, piercing through the blocking shadow and hit the real madman, stunning him for a few seconds which is just enough to lead a finishing assault.

"There's our opening! Go for it!" Spider-Man said, swinging towards Goblin with Knuckles by his side. Miguel yanks Goblin away from his shadow and gives him an aerial beatdown like never before, flip-kicking him to Knuckles who punches Goblin so hard he's sent flying to a surprised Heavy King. Goblin crashes directly on Heavy King as Miguel web-strikes both of them to the ground before throwing them back up for Knuckles to deliver the finishing slam.

**BGM End**

With Goblin defeated as the energy from the Master Emerald was knocked out of him, his illusion around the shrine disappears along with the Goblin Shadow. Goblin notice he accidently let go of his ordinary Chaos Emeralds after he was knocked out and tries to reclaim it, but Miguel already webbed it into his hand, making that six Chaos Emeralds for his team.

"You're not claiming any emerald today, Goblin." Miguel proclaimed.

Goblin scowls, "Fine! Keep your emeralds! I'm still after the much BIGGER prize! The Phantom Ruby! It will be mine! The Sinister Six will destroy both worlds and rule what is left from the ashes! AHAHAHAHAHA!" He cackled, flying away from Angel Island as is Heavy King, retreating with his chain claw from his jet.

"We need to go after them and head to Little Planet!" Knuckles said.

"How? I heard the rocket already left with Sonic and Tails. Guess they weren't able to stop it in time." Miguel replied, not seeing any other way to travel to Little Planet.

"That's okay. Look." Knuckles points to a Warp Point past an Animal Capsule he quickly frees the animals from. "I figured since Little Planet is in viewing distance, we can use this teleporter to catch up with Sonic." He figured.

"You sure you want to leave the Master Emerald unprotected? Aren't you it's guardian?" Miguel asked, worried their enemies might try to steal the Master Emerald again.

Knuckles solemnly replies, "I am. That's why I want to finish this quick. The Phantom Ruby is as powerful as the Master Emerald. We have about an hour left until the docs complete their superweapon with it. We can't leave it in the hands of Eggman or those other bad guys, or else both our worlds are toast." He then smiles, "And besides, you guys wouldn't last two seconds without my leadership."

Miguel smiles behind the mask, "Alright. I understand. Let's go catch up with the others." He said, taking the teleporter with Knuckles to transport themselves to Little Planet and finally raid the doctors' metallic madness.

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: The heroes are finally returning to Little Planet where endgame begins. 3 more chapters left plus an epilogue. We're almost done. Let's keep this up until the end.**

**XenoSlayer983: I have no real opinion which version of Kron I like more since I don't follow either form of his as closely as I do the original Venom or Scorpion. I'll just say I'm indifferent.**

**Vonneyboy21: I'm "avoiding" doing a Spider-Verse story unless I run out of ideas.**

**Guest: The RWBY kids are just that, kids. They didn't do much except provide fun conversation in the **_**Generations**_** story. As of now, don't expect them to return anytime soon.**

**Next time: Go small or go home! Welcome to Metallic Madness!**

**Question of the Chapter: What are everyone's opinions on "Superior Spider-Man", the comic story where Doc Ock switched minds with Peter to become a "better hero" than him?**

**BGM End**


	14. Issue 13: Shock 'n Shrink

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Classic Sonic: I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog. The submarine we took brought us back to Angel Island inside Lava Reef. The leader of the Heavies and Goblin were both after the Master Emerald for their own evil plot. Luckily, Spider-Man and Knuckles were on the case and stop them from abusing its power. With the Master Emerald safe, we're free to finally return to Little Planet and put a stop to the doctors' madness!**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Issue 13: Shock 'n Shrink_

**Metallic Madness Zone, Little Planet**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Metallic Madness Zone (Act 1)**

At last. Under the night sky but over Never Lake is the mechanized Little Planet hooked to a mountain, the conquered world the Doctors have converted into their base of operations using the Phantom Ruby. It won't be long now until they use the cosmic gemstone to supercharge their greatest weapon and take over their respective worlds.

An Eggman-built rocket flies over Metallic Madness Zone, an industrial metallic factory filled with traps and devious contraptions one after another. Sonic and Tails free-fall from the rocket landing somewhere in this death trap. A few seconds after them warp in Knuckles and Spider-Man from Hidden Palace Zone, reuniting the team after they split up at Lava Reef.

"Seems we got here just in time." Miguel said.

"Hey, you two. We knew you'd find a way here." Sonic replies with a thumbs up to him and Knuckles.

"How did you get here from Angel Island?" Tails happily asked them.

"Used a Warp Point teleporting us to Little Planet without a hitch. So what Zone is this? Seems dangerous." Knuckles asked, wanting to know the name of this unfamiliar Zone to his eyes.

"Metallic Madness. And yeah, this place is filled to the brim with death traps, so watch your step. And try not to accidently travel back to the past or future. We need to stay in the present and stop the doctors." Sonic advised.

"Okay." Spider-Man starts web-swinging through the Zone while everyone else runs along it.

"Looks like construction work here is almost complete. Seems we did delay them a bit shutting down Oil Ocean. So what happened with the Master Emerald? Is it safe?" Sonic asked Miguel and Knuckles, running through the zone while bouncing on badniks on the way.

"We wouldn't be here if it wasn't. The leader of the Heavies and Goblin tried to steal it but we put them in their place and got our sixth Chaos Emerald. How were things at the rocket?" Knuckles asked, uppercutting Public Eye Replicas.

"Fought ourselves our own Heavy riding a Moto Bug while practicing being a stunt man. They probably didn't want us on that rocket so they could steal the Phantom Ruby without us ruining their fun." Sonic replied, bouncing on a Robot Bee and landing on a red and ble seesaw, catapulting him to another part of the metallic base to travel.

"We beaten the Hard Boiled Heavies and the Sinister Six and have six Chaos Emeralds. That leaves one more to find, but do you think we will run into those guys again?" Tails asked, flying over P.E. fire until Spider-Man swing-kicked them to a catapult to get launched from.

"Most likely. Goblin won't quit so easily, and those Heavies won't stop until they have the Phantom Ruby for themselves. We need to wrap this up quick and get it back, before things get way too complicated. The last thing we need is to deal with the Doctors, the Sinister Six, and the Heavies at the same time." Miguel replied, bouncing off walls while avoiding enemy fire.

"Once we find all the Chaos Emeralds, they'll be a piece of cake. We just need to figure out where it is." Sonic replied.

**BGM End**

While traveling through the Zone, the group meet up inside a particular room that looks familiar to Sonic. The room's ceiling and floor are equipped with five gray and hollow pistons so closely packed that, together, they can fill out their entire room.

"Oh, these pistons look _awfully _familiar. I wonder if we entered a trap?" Sonic jokes with fake worry, smirking with ease as he has overcome a room similar to this against Eggman during his first adventure against the doctor back on South Island.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Danger on the Dance Floor**

"That because it is! Hahahaha**!" **Almost crushing the heroes if they didn't back away was a cocky Serena Patel riding one of the pistons.

"What are you trying to do? Crush us?" Miguel quipped.

"More like 'squash' you, like a bug meeting a boot." Patel remarks snarkly, using the pistons repeatedly trying to crush, squash, and trap the heroes between her pistons.

"Eggman tried these boots last time. Barely fit 'im, and didn't much help." Sonic jokes as the gang dodge Patel's attempts trying to crush them.

"I'm using more updated models. I will not make the same mistake like Eggman." Patel remarks, almost crushing Sonic and Tails if they didn't jump off the bottom one in time.

"You added an extra piston to run away in. That doesn't change much." Sonic landed a hit on her piston, irritating her to activate the red bulb on the wall creating multiple energy orbs that homes in on the heroes. Sonic sighs, using a Spin Dash to dodge the orbs.

Miguel flips back from the energy blasts easily, but got blind-sighted and accidently smacked himself to another of Patel's rising pistons, "Ooh! Another close one! This should keep you pests busy while the Titanic Monarch powers up after you cretins tried to delay our plans by shutting down Oil Ocean." She taunted.

"Then I'll make this quick." Miguel punches her piston, leaving a large dent on it. She retreats to another piston but Spidey can tell where she'll end up with his Accelerated Vision. Whenever her piston comes down, he's already on the attack, landing another and another at incredible spider-speed.

"No! I've encountered a malfunction! I'm losing control of my trap!" Patel notices the damage on her machine is starting to blow up and go haywire as the whole room flashes red and the bulb producing the energy orbs blow up. From the malfunction, the pistons begin deploying individually in quick succession, making it a little harder to dodge for the heroes.

"They're coming down random now!" Tails observed, dodging a quick piston.

"Everybody! Spot Patel and wreck her ride!" Sonic commanded.

Once Patel's piston showed up, in that quick frightening moment, the heroes rush her and delivered a speedy and powerful assault destroying her machine. "Gah! Darn you, inferior speck! This isn't over! Perhaps Eggman will finish you off!" Patel growled, retreating from the room in her exploding piston.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Metallic Madness Zone (Act 2)**

"I wouldn't count on it if I were you." Sonic remarks with his cocky snark.

"C'mon. They're just trying to delay us. Let's keep moving." Miguel said, commanding the gang as they continue traveling further and deeper in this mechanical base. While avoiding gunfire from robots and henchmen alike, the future web-slinger checks his wrist watch for the Phantom Ruby's signal and could tell they are on the right track. "We're on the right track. Just keep heading in this direction." He informed his friends while web-swinging.

"Got it!" Sonic replied while running at top speed.

"I'm getting seriously pumped up about this, Sonic!" Knuckles said, gliding to keep up with the gang and avoid all the grounded traps that try to halt the blue blur.

"Just don't enjoy yourself so much you'll let your guard down!" Sonic quipped, rolling in spinball mode on a Flywheel before jumping through the air.

"I'll be fine." Knuckles laughed, immediately interrupted with the sudden explosions from multiple Bigbom badniks blowing themselves up and knock the heroes to the Size Beam, shrinking them into tiny size.

"What the shock?!" Miguel cursed with an adorable tiny voice from the beam altering their size, which greatly surprised him.

"I'VE BECOME PUNY!" The tiny Knuckles shouted, surprised by his shrunken look.

"Calm down, nibbles. We can fix this. Just need to find the beam that'll grow us back." Sonic calmed him, having experienced this a few times during his last visit to this Zone.

"WATCH OUT!" Tails loudly pointed to a piston that's about to crush them if they weren't warned in time to jump out of the way. Shrunken in size, the tiny heroes are more vulnerable than ever, but that won't be enough to stop them. They have a job to do and that is defeating the doctors and saving their worlds. They run on the conveyor belts and dodge more crushers trying to crush them. They travel through tiny tubes and use the floating platforms to their advantage to traverse over spikes.

"How close are we to fix ourselves? I don't want to stay puny forever." Tiny Knuckles asked the small blue hedgehog.

"Should be one not far from us." Tiny Sonic replied.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Havoc Prognosis**

"That is if you can get to it ALIVE, tiny heroes! Ohohohoho!" Coming to delay the small-time heroes further from their goals is the grinning Dr. Eggman piloting his new flying battle vehicle, the Gachapandora, a large red and yellow vehicle with a glass-covered cockpit and a crank with a small dispenser underneath.

"Daaaah. You all look so cute. I _almost _don't want to destroy you now and put you in my toy box instead." Eggman taunted.

"You play with toys? Sad old man." Sonic mocked, angering his nemesis.

"I DID NOT SAY THAT!" Eggman yelled.

"What new machine do you have now that we'll soon destroy in a few seconds?" Miguel taunted.

"Turn the crank and see for yourself." Eggman dared them with his evil smile.

"I'm not liking this, guys." Tails said, feeling a bit nervous this could be another trap.

"I'm not liking being puny. Let's get this over with." Knuckles jumps in his small size onto the crank, turning it to dispense one of eight capsules, releasing one of three robotic 'prizes'.

"Congratulations, Knuckles. You just won a tiny version of my killer Egg Mobile-D." Eggman smiled sinisterly as the mini drill mobile chases Knuckles.

"I do not like this prize!" Knuckles complained while being chased, then quickly destroys the drill mobile into pieces.

"Aww, you don't like it? Perhaps Spider-Man would like to try his luck next." Eggman goaded the web-slinger to turn the crank next.

"Perhaps I'll win something that'll take you down faster." Spider-Man shoots a webline on the crank and yanks it, turning it to release a mini Egg Mobile dropping fireballs from its underside. The mini machines try to burn the tiny spider with its flameballs but he keeps dodging until he destroyed it with a single power punch.

"My turn! I bet I'll win something good!" Sonic turns the crank next, and much to his horror, releases a mini robot version of his obsessive biggest fan that he recently saved the first time we visited Little Planet, Amy Rose. "A robot mini Amy?! I would like try again please!" He fearfully said, dodging the mini Amy bot's attempts to "hug" him and blow up with him.

As Sonic quickly destroys the scary Amy bot with a Spin Dash, Tails has a little plan in mind to speed up this already drawn-out battle, "You're just trying to distract to finish your mech, but it won't work! If we want to beat you, let's dispense all the capsules!" Tails repeatedly turns the crank multiple times, much to Eggman's horror.

"No no! One for each person! One for each person! What are you doing, fox?!" Eggman shouted in horror as Tails released all the capsules with all his prizes, including three Amy bots, much to Sonic's fear and dismay. The tiny heroes quickly destroy all of Eggman's "prizes" now that his vehicle's tube containers are now broken.

"Look what you've done! I've had it with you now, you meddling kids!" Eggman uses the short-circuiting wires from his vehicle to send down small energy blasts at the heroes. They dodge them easily as Tails throws Sonic to turn the crank one last time to dispense Eggman himself while the Gachapandora explodes and falls down a pit.

Eggman growls from his inevitable defeat, "Wanna fight me personally? I'm still the big man over you tiny-AAAAAAH! THEY'RE ALL OVER ME! WHERE'S THE HERO REPELLENT?!" He gets bombarded with relentless tiny attacks from the tiny heroes until they forced him to run out of the room in embarrassment being beaten like that.

**BGM End**

"That was a waste of our shockin' time!" Miguel remarks on how time-consuming that fight was, if they could call it a fight.

"Agreed. One Amy is enough already." Sonic joked.

"Can we grow back to normal size already?!" Knuckles complained, still tired being puny.

"Yes, yes. See that white laser? That'll turn us back to normal." Sonic pointed to a white laser up ahead. The small gang ran to white laser one by one, each of them regrowing back to their original sizes.

"Ah yeah! I'm not puny anymore!" Knuckles joyfully flex his normal size muscles again as Spider-Man frees animals from yet another Capsule nearby.

"Kiss yourself later, Knuckles. Their little traps made us lose quite a bit of time, and I don't know how much time we have left." Sonic told him, as Patel and Eggman accomplished delaying the heroes just a little further for their grand plan to finally come to fruition.

Suddenly, as they have reached the exit of Metallic Madness, the power went out all over the factory. "Power's gone!" Miguel remarked.

"Did we do that? I don't think we did that." Sonic responded, keeping his guard up and glancing his surroundings for any signs of an ambush.

While looking at his surroundings, Knuckles spotted something very ominous far in the distance from the exit, "Huh? Guys, check that out." He pointed the whole team towards the location of what appears to be a newly-built city on Little Planet, but that's not what Knuckles is interested in. Strong lightning strikes down scaring the frightening Tails with each strike, as each of them does their job illuminating the path to the next Zone. The final Zone, containing the Doctors' biggest robotic creation yet as its eyes glow from its ominous silhouette.

"W-What is that, you guys?" Tails asked, frightened from both the massive battle mech and the numerous lightning strikes he fears so much.

"They've finally completed it. The ultimate weapon that threatens the past and future…" Miguel said, sounding very serious but calm at the same time as he talks. as the whole team stare at their ultimate challenge ahead.

"The Titanic Monarch." Sonic finished, looking very serious and calm himself as the whole team stare at their biggest challenge yet coming right ahead.

"This is it, huh?" Knuckles asked, getting all serious himself.

"Yeah. Serious time now. It's all been leading to this. Our biggest challenge dead ahead." Sonic replied, still staring at the behemoth of a mech from a distance.

"Time's running short, for countless lives from two whole dimensions. No more playing around." Miguel said.

"I'll be brave. I'll help you guys to the bitter end!" Tails put on his brave face, standing fearlessly this time alongside his fearless friends.

"Let's move, team! We got some worlds to save." Sonic dropped down from the factory with Miguel, Tails, and Knuckles as they all press forward to the decisive battle that'll decide the fate for the Classic World and the 2099 World.

But, they won't be the only ones joining this final showdown. On one faraway building close the giant mech is the Heavy King, firmly standing tall before the rest of his Hard Boiled Heavies, fully prepared to steal the Phantom Ruby once and for all. And standing on another faraway building is the Goblin, smiling deviously before the rest of his Sinister Six, as they are also prepared to steal the Phantom Ruby for dimensional domination. The heroes. The Hard Boiled Heavies. The Sinister Six. They are all about to converge with the maniacal Doctors, Eggman and Patel, possessing the greatest threat that puts all of time and space at risk. The final battles are about to begin.

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: This is it. We have officially reached endgame. If you played Sonic Mania, you would know there are two Zones left to cover, each getting their own chapter focused on them. The heroes. The Doctors. The Sinister Six. And the Hard Boiled Heavies are all going to participate in a four-way battle on who will claim the prize of the Phantom Ruby. How will these final battles play out? Find out soon.**

**D.N. Works: Mecha Spider-Man is basically the Superior Spider-Man for this series, which was my intention for the character. No Ock mind-swapping with Peter in this series.**

**Guest (from Chapter 13): As of now, no plans for Ruby to have a boyfriend. The closest relationship she has to a boy is Peter, who she considers her big brother.**

**Next time: The ultimate weapon of past and future!**

**Question of the Chapter: If you played them, what are your opinions on Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces. And if I do an adaption of Sonic Forces, what do you want me to improve on from the original source material?**

**BGM End**


	15. Issue 14: Monarch of Illusions

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Spider-Man 2099: The name's Miguel O'Hara. I'm the Spider-Man from the Year 2099. It took a long time, but we finally made it back to Little Planet. The doctors delayed us so they could complete their ultimate weapon: The Titanic Monarch, a giant mech powered by the Phantom Ruby. Time's running short. Millions of lives from both worlds are in danger. Sonic. Tails. Knuckles. It's time we finish this!**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Issue 14: Monarch of Illusions_

**Titanic Monarch Computer Room**

**BGM-Kirby: Planet Robobot OST-Secretary Susie's Theme 2**

Serena Patel is working with multiple computers using her multiple arms at the same time prepping her ultimate mech for the final phase of her grand plan with Eggman. Speaking of the doctor, she hears him entering through the door and insulted him by saying, "You took your sweet time."

"I got here as fast as I could! Delaying those fools wasn't easy, even when they're tiny! Time is running short! Sonic and his friends will be here any second!" Eggman retorted, knowing the heroes are not far from their mech.

"Let them come. It won't change anything. Our algorithm is complete. We are connected to the satellites that are currently targeting all threats in both dimensions as we speak in this reclusive Zone." Patel replied calmly as she continues typing. As she does, she presses a button revealing the Phantom Ruby and the purple Chaos Emerald to Eggman from one of her consoles, "I have managed to find one of the Chaos Emeralds and is being used along the Phantom Ruby charging our mech at an amazing rate. The heroes thought they were clever shutting down our oil refinery, but it was just a minor inconvenience delaying the inevitable." She presses another button that will release another essential weapon completing their plan. "We have reached optimal power to release the Ruby Mist across both dimensions that'll disorient them and leave them vulnerable. Once fully charged, we will be able to wipe out ALL our foes in one stroke! From the ashes, Alchemax will expand across the world and be revered as the ultimate empire! Everyone will sing our name!"

"A trans-dimensional Eggmanland will soon be realized! No one can stop us now! OHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Eggman laughed maniacally as all they have to do is wait for their mech to fully charge and wipe out the people from both dimensions.

**BGM End**

* * *

**Titanic Monarch Zone, Little Planet**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Built to Rule**

The Titanic Monarch Zone. A futuristic, high-tech metropolis set during nighttime where skyscrapers are lit up and the moon is visible in the clouded night sky. In the center of the city is the titular Titanic Monarch, the gigantic mech that resembles a cross between the Death Egg Robot and the Heavy King with Doc Ock's metal tentacles sprouting from its back.

Team Heroes arrive in this secret base on the metallic red roads with red banners depicting the emblems of the Eggman Empire, Alchemax and the Hard Boiled Heavies. The heroes look up facing the colossal mech and are impressed with its size and what dangers they will soon face.

"So that's the doctors' ultimate weapon: The Titanic Monarch. Didn't think anything could be bigger than the Death Egg Robot." Sonic stared, then notices something else coming out of it. The giant mech releases a pink-purple mist with faint sparkles to the sky that slowly spreads across the planet right here from Little Planet. "Hmm? What's that it's releasing?" He asked.

"A mist that distorts space-time from the Phantom Ruby. They're trying to connect your world with my world to get them ready for total annihilation. If we don't get inside that mech soon and shut it down, countless lives will be obliterated." Miguel answered, explaining the Ruby Mist.

"Then what are we waiting for? We have to get inside!" Tails remarks, being fearless and brave despite the immense stakes.

"That's the spirit, Tails! Let's not keep the doctors waiting any longer!" Knuckles smiled.

The heroes begin their trek up the tall, racing up to find an access point to enter the giant mech. They avoid the usual obstacles like spikes, Badniks, and Public Eye henchmen. Avoid getting crushed to fling themselves from the magnetic plasma spheres.

**BGM End**

Midway through the climb is when things get a little hectic, and surprisingly, it isn't because of the heroes or the Doctors. A rainstorm of familiar pumpkin bombs attacks the Titanic Monarch out of nowhere, then comes laser blasts and large lightning strikes from the sky. "Huh? Where did that come from?!" Sonic remarked from the surprise attacks trying to destroy the Titanic Monarch.

"I don't know!" Miguel responded, confused as well.

* * *

**Inside the Titanic Monarch…**

"Multiple targets approaching!" Patel informed Eggman while assessing the damage from her computer.

"Is it Sonic?" Eggman asked.

"No. They arrived shortly before these new intruders!" Patel replied.

"Then who could they be?!" Eggman asked, looking at the security feed trying to figure out, besides Sonic and his friends, who is stupid enough attacking the ultimate weapon between two dimensions.

* * *

**Back outside the Titanic Monarch…**

**BGM-Mega Man Starforce 3 OST-Go, Satella Police! (Radio World)**

Few more bombs were thrown at the seemingly indestructible Titanic Monarch, revealing it is Goblin 2099 that is attacking their base from the air. "At last we have found their hideout! ATTACK, MY SINISTER SIX! Destroy the giant robot and retrieve the Phantom Ruby! Victory is within our GRASP!" He commanded his reunited Sinister Six, ordering all of them to destroy the Titanic Monarch for their own selfish purposes.

"The Sinister Six!" Miguel remarked, watching the Six fight the Doctors' forces and their battle mech.

"Don't know when to quit, do they?" Sonic quipped, watching the battle also.

"Good job finding this place, Electro! Take control of the Doctors' machine and turn them against their forces!" Goblin ordered, raining pumpkin bombs at several Public Eye forces guarding the base.

"**Got it, boss!" **Electro uses his electricity powers zapping dozens of Badniks in the area, taking control of their bodies and commands them to destroy other Badniks and Public Eye forces.

"**Ain't nothing can stop me!" **Rhino proclaimed, charging his horn through an impressive line of defensives that proved useless against his rampaging might until he rammed his horn at the leg of the Titanic Monarch.

Silvermane destroys his young forces with his plasma arm cannon, killing them all as a distraction for Vulture and Venom. The flying cannibal dodges the mech's defense systems as he drops the alien monstrosity on top of the gigantic mech to start tearing up its weapons, scratching the robot with his deadly claws and tendrils in an attempt to destroy it from the outside. _**"Knock knock!" **_Venom joked, about to pound its head until he was blasted off the mech by a laser blast from behind.

"Who dares?!" Goblin noticed the ambush and turns to face his returning enemy: Heavy King. The leader Heavy used his scepter to blast Venom off the mech as he is now accompanied with the rest of the Hard Boiled Heavies, who are also here to steal back the Phantom Ruby for their own destructive needs.

"Now the Hard Boiled Heavies are here too?" Knuckles remarked as this has become a war between the Doctors, the Sinister Six, and the Hard Boiled Heavies. And of course the heroes in the sidelines at the moment.

"Haven't rusted yet, have you?! You are not getting the Phantom Ruby, machine! It belongs to ME!" Goblin throws his bombs at the Hard Boiled Heavies, but then Heavy King decides to do something surprising.

Using the remaining energy left he absorbed from the Master Emerald, Heavy King's scepter glows as it transforms the Heavies just as the bombs hit them. Goblin's attack did nothing as he was quickly knocked away from the transformed Heavy King's energy blast. Heavy King has changed, as so are his Heavies. Nothing drastically different, especially for Heavy Magician who hasn't changed at all. But everyone else got a small design change that transformed them from the Hard Boiled Heavies to the more powerful Phantom Heavies.

"They transformed!" Tails pointed out the obvious.

"Oh, terrific. Now they're even more annoying." Miguel quipped.

Goblin laughs, unthreatened by the Heavies' increase in power, "Nice trick. You lost your legs. Allow us to help you lose your heads! Attack them, my Sinister Six!" Goblin laughs, commanding his team to engage in intense combat against the Phantom Heavies. Goblin takes on Phantom King while Vulture fights Phantom Gunner. Rhino chases down Phantom Rider on his new Moto Bug motorcycle as Silvermane's shots misses Phantom Shinobi. And the likes of Venom and Electro are having trouble dealing with Phantom Magician with her illusion.

"This is our chance. Let's get inside the robot while those morons clobber each other." Miguel suggested, leaving the Six and the Heavies to their little fight as the heroes reach the top of the Titanic Monarch.

**BGM End**

"Going up!" Sonic joked. Quickly, Team Heroes managed to slip into a giant elevator that'll get them inside the gigantic mech, but because they were intruders, the security sentry was activated: The Crimson Eye. The large drone occupied itself in the top of a large metal pillar in the center of the arena from where it stares at the heroes.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Danger on the Dance Floor**

"Great. It's one of those red eye drones." Sonic recognized the drone, having fought a similar one at the Death Egg.

The Crimson Eye surrounds itself with eight balls spinning around to protect itself. "Too easy!" Miguel web-yanks one of the balls and throws it back at the eye, damaging it. The ball exploded into spikes but they were easily avoidable. The heroes work together attacking the red eye while avoiding its attacks. It didn't take long until the balls were destroyed and the pillar itself exploded, but the Crimson Eye is still capable fighting on its own.

The heroes watch as the Crimson Eye dislodges itself from its metal compartment and starts hovering around in the elevator. Sonic taunts it, "You ain't too different from the other red eye bot. Try something ne-!" Before he could finish insulting the drone, the elevator abruptly began moving up at an unexpected velocity, causing Sonic and company to crash to the ceiling. The Crimson Eye is now controlling the elevator and keeps moving it up and down to disorient the heroes before firing on them.

"Controlling the elevator won't do you any good against a spider!" Miguel mocked, using his talons to stick to the surface to avoid falling victim to the elevator shift. He attaches several weblines grabbing ahold of the Crimson Eye and fiercely pulls him straight to his fist, punching through its eye destroying the sentry for good.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Steel Cortex**

The elevator subsequently slows down now that the sentry is destroyed, making a complete stop to the entrance of the Titanic Monarch. Pressing forward, the heroes finally enter the colossal superweapon, finding themselves in a cathedral of some kind with stained-glass windows that depict the Hard Boiled Heavies, the Chaos Emeralds, Doctors Eggman and Patel, and the Phantom Ruby.

"This must be the cortex of Titanic Monarch." Miguel commented.

"I never expected the Doctors to create an amazing place." Tails remarked, amazed with this cathedral-like interior.

"Careful. You don't want to get too blown away." Knuckles warned them.

"Look. It's more of that purple mist." Sonic notices several parts in here are covered with mist clouds from passageways to the floors and ceilings and so on.

"Getting in contact with that mist will warp us to a different section in this mech. We can use that to our advantage." Miguel stated, having a plan to destroy the Titanic Monarch from within.

"In what way?" Sonic asked the future wall-crawler.

"I recognize some of the technology here. They're from Alchemax, and I bet my life there are several computer terminals that work the target system connected to the satellites. Destroy those terminals, and they'll lose sight of all their targets. They'll be blind as a bat. But we have to hurry. We have like five minutes left!" Miguel said, informing his friends of his plans to defeat the Doctors' ultimate mech.

**BGM End**

**BGM-Sonic X OST-Sonic**

"You're right. C'mon, let's go!" Sonic shouts as they each jump into their own Ruby Mist to warp to different areas inside the giant robot. Each hero ends up in their own section to rampage through finding the target system controls. Sonic blitz through his enemies. Tails flies over more Ruby Mist. Knuckles punches a small army of goons. Spider-Man web-swings past lasers and many dangerous obstacles as the clock is ticking.

* * *

**With the Doctors in the Titanic Monarch Computer Room…**

"Target saturation reached. All targets assigned. Titanic Monarch fully charged." Patel said as the computer finished scanning for targets of over 2 million between the two worlds and are just about ready to launch the end.

"This is it! The Sinister Six and the Heavies might have caused some damage with their rude interruption, but it's not enough to stop the end. Victory is within our grasp! WE HAVE WON!" Eggman proclaims victory as the Titanic Monarch is about to fire and kill everyone on both worlds. But then the unexpected happened. Suddenly, the computers go on the fritz as they lose sight of all their targets by the thousands, "WHAT?! We're being disconnected from the satellites! We're losing our targets!" He shouted, extremely frightened.

"Impossible, but how?!" Patel checks the security feed of the heroes destroying their target systems and causing a huge ruckus inside their mech, "Spider-Man?! NO! They're ruining everything!" She shouted in horror.

"In that case, it's time to finish them off!" Eggman pounded his desk in absolute anger, now enraged enough to combat the heroes to a final showdown.

**BGM End**

* * *

**Back with the Heroes…**

The target consoles are destroyed, meaning the Titanic Monarch can initiate the attack to wipe out its threats throughout the two worlds. Victory is now within the heroes' grasp as they reunite in a large central area from the Ruby Mist.

"Did we do it?" Sonic asked Spidey if they succeeded saving their worlds.

"Lyla, give me an update?" Miguel asked his AI.

'_You did it, guys! The Titanic Monarch's target system is completely offline. They have lost all their targets, meaning their algorithm is now worthless.' _Lyla happily informed them of their success preventing a dimensional catastrophe.

"Booyah!" Sonic clapped hands with Tails as Knuckles and Spider-Man share a fist-bump from their impressive victory saving their two worlds.

Unfortunately for them, there is still one last challenge they must overcome before they could think about taking a break, and that is defeating the Doctors and retrieving the Phantom Ruby. Lucky for them, Eggman was kind enough to contact them about their final battle through the mech's communication systems, _'Sonic! I know you and your friends can hear me!'_

"Eggman!" Sonic remarked hearing the sound of his voice from the hidden speakers.

'_The time has come for us to settle things once and for all. I will open a warp point to the deepest section of Titanic Monarch. Me and Patel will be waiting for you to come to your destruction!' _Eggman turns off the speakers as an ominous wormhole opens in the middle of the room that'll take them to the final battle zone to settle things once and for all.

* * *

**Deepest Section of Titanic Monarch…**

Taking Eggman's invitation, the heroes jumped into the wormhole and found themselves a secured room with nothing but themselves and their arriving powered-up opponents. The monitors around suddenly turn on blaring warning signs like "alert" and "caution", implying that whatever the Doctors have up their sleeve, it might be a very BAD idea that could endanger them all.

Eggman shows up in a new mech suit called the "Phantom Egg", equipped with four tethers that uses the power of the Phantom Ruby. Next to him climbs down from the ceiling is Patel in her Octo-Suit, more powerful than ever being equipped with the last Chaos Emerald in her chest.

"You actually stayed instead of running away, doctors." Sonic mocked his enemies.

Eggman growls, all ripe with immense anger and absolute hate for his hated nemesis and his friends, like Spider-Man standing with him, **"How DARE you say that, Sonic! How DARE you interfere with my plans every time! You wrecked my plans for conquering the world! Now you and your spider-friend disengaged our Monarch's targeting systems! We were SO close destroying anyone that would even be the SLIGHTEST of threat to us!" **He ranted.

Patel continues for him, "And now you fools will PAY with your lives! We will show you the ace up our sleeves! YOU'RE FINISHED THIS TIME, HEROES!"

"Keep saying that because it's never going to happen! We've handled everything you thrown at us! We can handle this one too!" Spider-Man remarked, standing ready with his mobian allies in this final showdown against the doctors.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Ruby Illusions**

"**You won't be talking big for much longer!" **Eggman retorted.

Eggman surrounds himself with an orange shield while taking the defense position and having Ock 2099 acting as offense, working as a tag-team against their mutual enemies. Patel thrusts her arms and flails them around attacking the heroes with some success. Sonic and Tails were able to run on her tentacles and avoid more of her attacks before hitting her to the ground, leaving Spider-Man and Knuckles to take on Eggman.

"**Take this!" **Eggman fires multiples missiles while hopping across the room with his suit's tethers. Knuckles dodges the missiles aimed at him while Spider-Man web-throws them back at Eggman, which didn't do a thing because of his invulnerable force-field. As Knuckles goes for a punch, Eggman dodges it. He drops the shield to electrify his tethers, shocking Knuckles. Miguel avoids the electrified tethers to strike fiercely on Eggman now with his shields temporarily off, until one of the tethers were destroyed.

"**Curse you! You'll pay for this, bug!" **Eggman growls, activating floating red holographic hands using the Phantom Ruby's power to capture Spider-Man.

"What?! Whoa!" Miguel tried to break free but had vanished with the hand.

"Spider-Man!" Sonic remarked when he noticed Eggman has sent him away.

* * *

**With Spider-Man…**

Spider-Man was warped to another room closed off from the main battle, "Where am I?" He asked himself, quickly noticing he's under fire by numerous missiles from Phantom Gunner, who no longer has limbs and instead has a new giant jetpack that contains a missile launcher. Spider-Man dodges the missiles until he notices Gunner is also attacking Vulture, "Vulture? They seem to have gotten in the Monarch. These two look to be worn out from their fighting. Maybe I can take use that to MY advantage!" Miguel believed that he could easily beat Vulture and Phantom Gunner now they are weakened from their battle.

"I'm sending you to the junkyard!" Vulture fires at Gunner, who counters with his own attacks making their battle even for the moment.

"Hey, birdbrain!"

"Wha-?" Vulture turns to get one shotted by a surprise attack from Spider-Man. Miguel sees more missiles targeted on him, so he repels them with web-throws back at the shocked Phantom Gunner as he takes the direct hit from his own missiles, finally destroying one of the Heavies.

"Yes! Knocked them both out!" Miguel said, giving a small fist-pump before he is suddenly warped again.

* * *

**Back to main brawl…**

Spider-Man was then warped back to the fight with the doctors, much to his confusion, "I'm back here?"

"Yes…" Patel slams the webhead's head to the floor with her tentacle, then pins his limbs there with the others, "Back to your doom!"

"Lay off him, lady!" Knuckles ruthlessly tackles the madwoman to the wall as Sonic and Tails go in for additional damage. Eggman shows up with his shield back online and uses it to protect Patel from the duo's double attack, stopping them.

"**It is rude attacking a lady, gentlemen." **Eggman taunted.

"Now DIE!" Patel fires twin lasers from her tentacles that blasts Sonic and Tails to their own wall and get pins by her tentacles to their necks.

Spider-Man web-strikes the scientist to free Sonic and Tails and combos her in the air, throwing her to that double-attack from the duo. Meanwhile, "You're not getting me the same way twice!", Knuckles dodges the electrified tethers to violently attack the vulnerable Eggman each time he lowers his shield to electrify his tethers. Once the second tether was destroyed, the angry Eggman uses his teleporting hands to teleport Knuckles this time to another room.

* * *

**With Knuckles…**

It was Knuckles' turn to get transported to another room, finding himself in the middle of a fierce battle between Silvermane and Phantom Shinobi, now in the shape of a shuriken. "You cannot win, robot! I have survived time itself, while your time will soon be up!" Silvermane taunted, firing his arsenal on the bouncing Shinobi.

"I don't know how I got here, but I'm still hungry for some action!" Knuckles said, dodging Phantom Shinobi's extend blades attack and manages to ferociously punch Silvermane straight through the robot ninja, destroying it for good and leaving the old man cyborg unconscious. "Alright, now how do I get out of here?" Knuckles wondered before he was suddenly transported away.

* * *

**Back to the main fight…**

Because of the Phantom Ruby, Knuckles returned back to the main fight only to get knocked around by numerous explosions as he humorously screams for his life. The doctors are firing all their projectiles at Sonic, Tails, and Spider-Man. With each attack they miss, more and more of Titanic Monarch takes a massive beating as it's getting destroyed from the inside thanks to the doctors' recklessness.

"**Are you also trying to destroy our Titanic Monarch?" **Eggman asked, firing more missiles at Sonic.

"You're destroying it yourselves." Sonic quipped, jumping onto a missile to ride, redirecting it to hit Patel, knocking her back for four of her tentacles to get webbed by Spider-Man as he leaps in for the assault.

"This is why Stone wanted me to create the Phantom Ruby! Above everyone else, YOU are Alchemax's true obstacle that continues to pester us with your meddling!" Patel retaliated.

"Glad I'm getting on his nerves!" Spider-Man kicked the evil science squid.

"And mine!" Patel throws a tentacle slam and a laser, both which Spider-Man was able to avoid with his Accelerated Decoys.

Meanwhile, while Eggman's shield is again deactivated while trying to use his tethers, Sonic and Tails both land a significant attack that destroys his third tether. **"Why don't you just give up and let me KILL YOU!" **Eggman uses another holo-hand to grab the duo but they dodged him after witnessing what happened with Spidey and Knuckles earlier. This time though, Eggman forms another holo-hand, surprising Sonic with his capture and soon warps him away.

"Sonic!" Tails saw his best friend get sent away, before he too was captured and warped to another location.

* * *

**With Tails…**

The young twin-tailed fox was sent to the Phantom Magician's chamber, who was currently fighting the ferocious Venom and Electro together. Tails gulps in fear from being sent to such a dangerous room, "This is scary."

"_**RAAAAAGH! Stop playing around and fight us for real!" **_Venom attacks the mystic robot, only for it to be an illusion.

Electro fires a powerful attack at the real Phantom Magician, but it was blocked when the robot hid itself underneath a giant bowl, **"What the?!" **Electro remarks in confusion before he and Venom were trapped in their own bowl.

"I think I recognize what is going on!" Tails can tell Phantom Magician is forcing his enemies to play the shell game. Tails focuses on the bowl hiding the Phantom Magician while all three bowls are being shuffled. When they are done shuffling, Tails picks the right one where Phantom Magician was hiding in while the other bowls drop out Venom and Electro, only for them to get blasted by a large beam from their bowls, to their defeat. "You're joining them too!" Tails strikes the Magician to Venom's bowl laser to get destroyed itself, leaving Tails as the lone survivor before he is sent back to the main match.

* * *

**With Sonic…**

The young hedgehog was transported to one of three roads in the Phantom Rider's chamber, "Where am I? Is anyone else here?" He asked, wanting to know if anyone else is around.

"**You can't run from me forever, little rider!" **

Sonic looks to the other two roads to see Rhino rampaging on one and the Phantom Rider driving on the other along on a modified Jimmy. "A little race action, eh? Fine by me!" Sonic smiled, always looking forward to a good race. The speedy hedgehog blurs ahead, already catching up with his opponents, "Can you keep up with me?" He taunted the other racers. On their roads there are spikes that need to be avoided. Sonic and Phantom Rider jump over theirs while Rhino simply rams through them with no injury.

"I think playtime's almost over, boys. See ya later." Sonic has a feeling this race is almost over. And he was right, because at the same time he gets teleported back to the main fight, Phantom Rider gets scared as she accidently runs into a wall and blows up. With Rhino, he was too dumb to see he is going to fall into a large pit clouded with Ruby Mist until it was too late.

"**Oh CRUDDDDDDD…!" **Rhino yelled as he falls to the mist and is randomly teleported to an unknown location.

* * *

**Back to the main match…**

Sonic and Tails returned at the same time, sharing a nod of relief they are back to finish the battle against the crazed doctors. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Knuckles have been holding their own against Patel's tentacles and Eggman's missiles as they both are becoming more insane and reckless with each attack.

"It's over, doctors! Give up the Phantom Ruby! You're being reckless with it, and who knows what sort of damage you could do if you lose control!" Spidey remarks, failing to damage Eggman's force-field with his talons and punches.

"**We won't lose control! We will use ALL of its power if it's the only means destroying you insects forever!" **Eggman blasts the future hero flying away with his frightening missile barrage.

"Don't worry, Spidey, I got you!" Tails flies up grabbing Miguel's hand, saving him.

"Thanks." Miguel thanked him, then turns to help Knuckles about to face the fury of Patel's piercing tentacles. Spider-Man webs the tentacles together into one, making it easiser for the powerhouse echidna to grab and ruthlessly slam Patel to the wall with enough force to knock out her Chaos Emerald.

"No! The emerald!" Patel tries to grab it back with a tentacle, but it was already grabbed by Spider-Man thanks to his webbing.

With Patel down, there's only Eggman left, and Sonic has that covered. The fun-loving hero grinds down the doc's last remaining tether, which Eggman sees as the perfect moment to finish off his foe, **"Sonic, you're finished!" **Eggman electrifies the tether, but that's what Sonic wanted. He goaded him to activate his tether as that drops his force-field for a final, powerful Spin Attack that destroys the Phantom Egg.

**BGM End**

The defeat of Eggman causes his Phantom Egg to explode, simultaneously triggering a chain reaction that is about to make the Titanic Monarch explode, **"NOOO! This is so frustrating! I'm encountering a malfunction! Why can't I use the Phantom Ruby?! WORK, YOU STUPID LITTLE GEM!"**

"Uh oh. This whole base is about to blow. Destroying his machine connected with the Phantom Ruby must have caused a chain reaction." Spider-Man remarked, feeling the massive rumbling and explosions happening all over the giant robot.

"Tails! Knuckles! You guys get out of here, hurry! We'll catch up once we get the Phantom Ruby!" Sonic ordered his two friends to escape before him and Spider-Man.

"Okay, Sonic! Be careful!" Tails nodded, having faith in his friends they'll be okay.

"See ya on the other side! Good luck!" Knuckles wished them.

Knuckles and Tails flee to a nearby rocket car to escape the exploding Titanic Monarch, while Sonic and Spider-Man stay behind with the doctors to retrieve the Phantom Ruby and truly end this madness. "Give us the Phantom Ruby, doctors! This place is going to blow any second now!" Spider-Man demanded.

"NO! The Ruby belongs with US!" Patel argued stubbornly.

"It belongs to ME!"

Blasting from the ceiling flies down Goblin 2099, the remaining member of the Sinister Six, as well as Phantom King, the remaining member of the Hard Boiled Heavies, both here to steal the Phantom Ruby if it's the last thing they do. "Give me the Phantom Ruby! Give it to me! I NEED its power! No one else is worthy!" Goblin struggles with Eggman for possession of the Phantom Ruby.

"**The Ruby stays with me, you costumed maniac! NO ONE ELSE WILL HAVE IT!" **Eggman retorted, working with Patel to clash against both Goblin and Phantom King for the true possession of the Phantom Ruby, which is oddly glowing on its own for some strange reason.

Without warning or intention, the Phantom Ruby in Eggman's possession activates on its own, creating a huge space-time field that captures the Doctors, Goblin, Phantom King, Sonic, and Spider-Man in the vicinity. "It activated a space-time field! A big one from the looks of it!" Spider-Man commented on this dire situation.

"This is not going to end well!" Sonic jokes, as the Phantom Ruby sucks the six of them up into its warp and teleports them to their final destination.

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Sunshine Cassette**

**KFX Here: Final chapter is next, folks. Not much to say but to look forward to it and find out how this story will end, even though it's obvious.**

**Fir100: I haven't played Fire Emblem Three Houses yet and I don't have the money for it. I'll keep it in mind though.**

**HybridKing18: I've already said I WON'T be doing something like Dying Wish. I'm not following the 616 canon anymore. This series is in its own universe. Besides, Superior Spider-Man already exists. His name is Mecha Spider-Man.**

**Next time: Battle for the Phantom Ruby!**

**Question of the Chapter: Besides Superior Spider-Man because I'm not doing one, what other famous Spider-Man story arc from the comics do you want to see adapted into this series? Just to let you know, story arcs like "Maximum Carnage" and "Spider-Island" already happened in this continuity but not "Go Down Swinging", for example.**

**BGM End**


	16. Finale: Mania Madness

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Comfort Zone**

**Classic Sonic: I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog. The villains are beaten and the Titanic Monarch is falling apart, but something's happening with the Phantom Ruby. Eggman lost control over it, and now it's acting on its own activating a space-time warp. Tails and Knuckles managed to escape, but me and Spidey got caught along with the Doctors, Goblin, and the Heavy leader. We don't know where it's taking us, but one thing's for certain: We HAVE to stop anyone from abusing the Phantom Ruby anymore!**

**BGM End**

* * *

_Finale: Mania Madness_

**Egg Reverie Zone**

The Phantom Ruby is acting on its own and has transported itself alongside the likes of Sonic, Spider-Man, Dr. Eggman. Dr. Patel, Goblin, and Phantom King into an ominous purple void consuming a barren wasteland. Sensing the danger they are in, the seven Chaos Emeralds protected Sonic and Spider-Man while they were caught in the space-time warp as the heroes float in midair inside this void.

"What happened? Where are we?" Sonic asked, looking around this unknown dimension until his eyes gazed at the Phantom Ruby floating across from them, "Did the…Phantom Ruby bring us here?"

"It created a pocket dimension where time and space are in a constant flux, where it doesn't exist." Miguel replied, amazed on how truly powerful the Phantom Ruby is it terrifies him a bit.

Before the heroes could think of retrieving the Phantom Ruby and send them back home, Phantom King swipes it in front of them and mounts the cosmic gemstone on itself, granting him total control and ultimate power of the Phantom Ruby.

"Give it back, you remodeled laundry machine!" Sonic threatened, scowling at Phantom King for stealing the Phantom Ruby.

"I concur!"

Flying past the heroes is Patel and Eggman, who is now piloting a damaged Egg Mobile with added arms dubbed the "Klepto Mobile" that he built out of spare parts immediately after he was pulled into this dimension, "You have defied your master, you rebellious trash can! Hand over the Phantom Ruby, or I will show you NO mercy as I dismantle you into nuts 'n bolts!" Eggman threatened, working with Patel in an attempt to take the Ruby back for themselves.

"As if I'll allow any of you worthless worms to keep it!" Goblin descends and clashes against the other villains for possession of the Phantom Ruby, "The Phantom Ruby is MINE! Only I can wield its power! Anyone who gets in my way will be DESTROYED!"

Tired of this conflict, Phantom King uses his Phantom Ruby to seemingly banish the other villains, flinging them away across this dimension with his newfound scary power that can tear space and time apart, leaving just Sonic and Spider-Man to confront this ultra-powered Super Badnik.

"The Phantom Ruby doesn't belong to anyone! It's too dangerous! Complete misuse could unravel the very fabric of reality itself! Just look where we are right now!" Miguel disputed as he is determined to set everything right.

"This ends here and now, you creeps! We're taking you ALL down and setting things right! With me, Spider-Man?!" Sonic declared, getting ready face all the villains with his partner from the future.

"Always!" Spider-Man responded readily, working together with his partner from the past.

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Egg Reverie**

The Chaos Emeralds respond to their heart and mind as they get absorbed into the duo, granting them their invincible Super Forms with Sonic gaining golden fur and spiked-up hair and Spider-Man gaining a powerful gold-and-black variant of his original costume.

The transformed Super Duo double-tackled Phantom King with a blurry boost before it could react to their transformation. The modified Heavy surrounded itself with an impenetrable barrier of spheres while firing lasers at the flying heroes.

"I'll provide support while you give him everything you got!" Super Spidey 2099 advised Sonic as they dodge his attacks.

"Okay! Get ready for the super beatdown of your life!" Classic Super Sonic replied.

While dodging the energy beams, Super Spidey charges up and unloads a barrage of energy web bullets at the protected Phantom King, annoying it enough to fire these spheres one after another at him, leaving himself an opening for Super Sonic to exploit with a powerful boost attack, followed by an afterimage assault from Super Spidey.

Phantom King was knocked back as well as the Phantom Ruby from his head, dropping it into one of Patel's tentacles as it powers up the mad 2099 scientist. "Thank you for returning what is rightfully mine, gentlemen. Allow me to kindly give you your reward!" Patel smiled, extending her tentacles to attack the dodgy super heroes.

"The Phantom Ruby doesn't look too good on you, Ock!" Super Sonic insulted, dodging and deflecting her tentacles.

Spider-Man fires a webline on her, which was immediately cut as she uppercuts him with a tentacle before blasting him away with twin lasers from two others, actually hurting him in his super state, "That hurt." Miguel remarked, feeling the pain.

"That's impossible. We're invulnerable in our Super Form." Sonic stated.

Patel laughs, "Seems I made the Phantom Ruby TOO powerful! I always love it when my inventions exceed my expectations!"

"Let's see how much it'll help you against this!" Super Sonic surrounds the octopus doctor with dozens of afterimages, each making a face to make fun of her.

Patel gets irritated by the mocking and tries to attack the real Sonic, only for her to keep destroying a fake and getting more frustrated with every failed attack, "You can't keep doing this forever! Show yourself!" She demanded.

"Let me give you a hint!" Spidey suddenly flies in punching Patel away, sending her to get kicked by the real Sonic and then spin-kick by Spider-Man to the ground, knocking the Phantom Ruby into Goblin's laughing possession this time.

"For me? You shouldn't have! Nyahahahaha!" Goblin spreads his wings out as he uses the Phantom Ruby to recreate his giant phantom gargoyle, stronger than ever before, "Time for you all to say goodbye, and PERISH!"

The phantom gargoyle roars as it fires giant flaming energy spheres that resembles pumpkin bombs aimed at the heroes as they dodge all-around. "You're the last person I want keeping the Ruby!" Miguel said, firing an energy blast from his hands at Goblin, but was blocked by his illusion.

"But you have to admit. It does look good on me." Goblin joked, throwing more attacks at the spider.

"When you're bruised up, it looks great on you." Sonic quipped, piercing through the illusion with a Super Sonic Boost from the back and smacking Goblin away into Miguel's punch, then a kick that sends him back a few before being web-yanked into the fists of his Decoys that sends him flying again, dropping the Phantom Ruby into Eggman's possession on his Klepto Mobile.

"Yes! The Ruby is mine once again!" Eggman laughed, but soon was smacked back by Super Sonic.

"That didn't last, did it, doc?" Sonic mocked.

The Phantom Ruby dropped back to Phantom King's possession but was immediately pelleted with bombs from Goblin that knocks it into his hand, "Give it back to me!" Goblin grabbed the gem, but was instantly slammed by Patel who regains her gem.

"It's mine!" Patel declared, before getting ruthlessly tackled by Super Spider-Man.

"Not on your life!" Miguel responded, grabbing the Ruby before it and himself was quickly punched away by the Klepto Mobile's rapid punches as Eggman regains the Ruby for himself.

"It belong to me!" Eggman declared until he got boosted by Super Sonic.

"No it doesn't!" Super Sonic grabbed the Ruby, but he too was suddenly attacked by Phantom King.

The Phantom Ruby is once again back in the possession of Phantom King and uses it to scatter everyone back with a powerful shockwave. "I had enough of you stomping on my groove! You're busted!" Super Sonic storms the leader Heavy with a mighty Spin Dash, which got blocked with a force-field. Still, Sonic keeps pushing, going all-out in an attempt to break through the barrier. Super Spidey shows up too, lunging his fist from the other side of the force-field to help him break through it. Their combined attacks start to become much for Phantom King as he notices his shield cracking. In a few seconds, it shattered, allowing the heroes to deliver the finishing blow that finally destroys the Phantom King for good.

The explosion from the Phantom King flung the Phantom Ruby back to Goblin's possession, using it to again recreate his demonic illusion floating behind him. "No one's taking it from me this time! You're finished, Spider-Man! I hope you accept this kind gift that is total obliteration!" Goblin commands his giant illusion to slam its fists on the heroes, and when that didn't work, blast them with energy from the mouth.

"It's time someone shut you up and knock the craziness right out of you, Goblin! I'll be happy to volunteer!" Spider-Man flies around dodging the giant illusion's attacks by retaliating with a dozen afterimages. The decoys distract the phantom with a plethora of their own attacks like web barrages and web-swings, giving Super Sonic the chance to boost and tackle Goblin through his phantom, thus destroying it. Spidey shows up cupping his hands together as he charges them up and reels back, then slams the super-powered fists onto Goblin, utterly smashing him into a crater where he is knocked unconscious.

"N-Nooooo…" Goblin muttered before slipping into unconsciousness.

The Phantom Ruby returns to Patel's grasp as she stands on her tentacles next to Eggman, "This gem is Alchemax property! Do you know how hard I worked on this to create a device that can turn dreams into reality?!" Patel asked while attacking the heroes with her laser tentacles.

"Living in a reality controlled by Alchemax is a world I don't want any part of!" Spider-Man deflects the tentacles before destroying four of them, leaving just two for Patel. Sonic grabs her remaining arms and wraps her up with them as Spider-Man webs her up, then throws her across the void to hopefully never to be seen again.

Now, the Phantom Ruby returns to Eggman's possession as he stands as the remaining villain left to take on the super duo, "Today's the day I will finally defeat you with my own hands! Bring it, Sonic!" Eggman dared his arch-rival to come finish this fight.

"Here I go, Eggman!" Super Sonic responded.

Sonic boosts towards the mad doctor but was quickly repelled by his Mobile's rapid punches, giving him enough time to harness the Phantom Ruby's power to encase himself in a strange barrier, then charge at the golden hedgehog, knocking him away further. Eggman laughs, "This is fun! It's about time to finish you off!" He smiled evilly.

"I don't think so!" Spider-Man appears before Eggman, dodging his attempts to punch him as he mercilessly rips each arm off his vehicle.

"My arms!" Eggman remarked in horror.

"Sonic!" Spider-Man alerts his partner to finish Eggman with one final attack.

"It's over, Eggman! HRAAAAAAAAAGH!" Super Sonic surrounds himself in a golden fiery aura rushing towards the increasingly scared Eggman, striking his Klepto Mobile with one all-powerful attack that bounces him back.

**BGM End**

"SONIIIIIIIIIC…!" Eggman yelled as knocked through the endless void with his exploding Egg Mobile.

Sonic's final attack was able to knock the Phantom Ruby away from Eggman as he was defeated, but at the same time, knocked away the Chaos Emeralds, reverting Sonic and Spider-Man to their original form floating in midair. "Yes! That takes care of them!" Sonic fist-pumped happily now that the battle is over and their worlds are truly saved from the power of the Phantom Ruby.

"Right, but, look." Miguel points to the Chaos Emeralds circling around the Phantom Ruby, leaving it strangely reacting with the emeralds.

"What are they doing? I'm not liking this." Sonic asked, just as confused as Miguel wondering about the strange interaction between the Chaos Emeralds and the Phantom Ruby.

Suddenly, the Phantom Ruby scatters the Chaos Emeralds as it opens a large wormhole into the space-time continuum, slowly sucking up the Ruby as well as Sonic and Spider-Man. "Interacting with the Chaos Emeralds must have caused the Phantom Ruby to open a wormhole into the space-time continuum!" Miguel stated as they try their hardest not to get sucked in.

"What does that mean?!" Sonic asked, trying to run in midair as fast as he could from the vacuuming wormhole, but it was useless. The wormhole was too strong to escape from its grasp, causing Sonic, Spider-Man, and the Phantom Ruby to get swallowed up by it as they scream into the unknown, "WHOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAA!" as the Egg Reverie Zone is engulfed in a big bright light.

* * *

**Meanwhile, outside Little Planet…**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Good Ending**

Thanks to the heroes' actions, Titanic Monarch is a few seconds away from its destruction. It explodes multiple times as a strange golden light escapes from it and Little Planet itself to the unknown. Watching all of this are Tails and Knuckles after they managed to escape from the destruction of Titanic Monarch earlier, finding themselves standing on a cliffside at Never Lake as the chain holding Little Planet breaks apart, freeing it from the Doctors' control. But there's still one thing left in Tails' mind that he's most worried about.

"Sonic…Spider-Man…" Tails worriedly said, concerned about his friends and worries they were caught in the explosion to the giant mech.

Knuckles, however, remains calm and collected, completely confident in his friends' arrival. He smiles while assuring Tails, "I'm sure they're okay. Look." He told the young fox.

The two of them witness a bright light exploding from Little Planet, returning it to its natural state. Tails and Knuckles watch with a smile as the restored Little Planet vanishes in a flash of light that shows Sonic and Spider-Man 2099 smiling at them, as a sign they will return one day.

**BGM End**

* * *

**Inside a Space-Time Vortex…**

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Introduction (Tee Lopes Ver.)**

"Whoa, what's happening? Where are we going?" Sonic asked, as he and Miguel are diving through a purple tunnel that connects to different dimensions thanks to the Phantom Ruby.

"I honestly don't know. We could be traveling to the past, to the future, anywhere in the multiverse! And the Phantom Ruby could end up in any of them! This adventure has turned into a real shock." Miguel said while falling down through the vortex.

Sonic smiles, "I don't mind. More adventure means more excitement! Who cares where the Phantom Ruby ends up?! We'll push through every obstacle the multiverse throws at us until we find it and get back home!"

"You make it sound like this would be easy." Miguel quipped.

"Ha ha! I would hate it if it is. C'mon, Miguel! Our next adventure awaits!" Sonic smiled, spinning faster through the vortex.

"Hey, wait up!" Miguel uses his web-wings to free-fall at top speed, zipping through the vortex with his webbing to catch up with Sonic as the two fall into a bright light that'll send them to their next exciting adventure.

**BGM End**

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Mania OST-Credits (Guided Tour)**

**KFX Here: And that's the finale for Mania Mayhem. The Doctors are defeated. The Sinister Six 2099 have been thwarted. And the Hard Boiled Heavies are destroyed. But the Phantom Ruby is still out there, vanishing into another dimension. The adventure is not done yet for Classic Sonic and Spider-Man 2099. They will return in the finale story of the "Phantom Ruby Saga". What will that story be? Some of you might already know, but for those who don't, I won't say anything until the epilogue, so look forward to that really soon. Hope you enjoyed this story. Take care.**

**XenoSlayer983: I've said this thousands of times before. I will never, ever, EVER write anything One More Day-related because FUCK that comic. I never read the actual comic myself, only read plot summaries and reviews and it's still enough to fill me with disgust.**

**Question of the Chapter: What are your opinions on Mania Mayhem as a whole?**

**BGM End**


	17. Epilogue: Manifest Destiny

_Epilogue: Manifest Destiny_

**2099 World…Babylon Towers, Nueva Vale**

"Have you found him yet, Gabriel?" Silver asked. It's been a few hours ever since Miguel disappeared from the 2099 World by the Phantom Ruby when they infiltrated Alchemax. Having no idea where he ended up, Silver returned to Miguel's apartment working with Gabriel O'Hara tracking down the future webhead's location in the multiverse, if he's even still alive.

"Hold on, Silver. This kinda thing takes time. What did you say happened to him again?" Gabriel replied, while typing on the computer connected to a spider-themed bracelet.

Silver replies, "He got sucked into a portal by some 'weird gemstone' when we went to Alchemax, I don't know what happened to him. It looked like a space-time portal, so I figured he got sent into another dimension and came back to you to find him. How are you finding him anyways?" He asked to the expert hacker.

Gabriel holds up the spider-bracelet, "It's a dimensional travel watch Miguel left here after he got it from the original Spider-Man a while back. A 'Webware' I think my brother called it. I've hacked into it with the computer to observe multiple dimensions. Since Lyla's with him, I should be able to pinpoint his location through her."

"And have you found him?" Silver asked.

Gabriel sighs, "No. There seems to be some abnormal interference. I'm scanning the infinite universes. If he's currently traveling between them, it'll be difficult to find out where he's gonna end up, but I'm not gonna give up. I'll keep searching."

**BGM-Mega Man Zero 3 OST-Curse of Vile**

While Gabe continues searching for his missing brother from his computer screen scanning various dimensions, one world captures his attention. His horrified attention judging from his worried face, "What the shock…?" He cursed.

"What is it? Did you find him?" Silver asked him.

"No, but, Silver. Come look at this. Something _changed_ in your era." Gabe told him.

"What? Lemme see." Silver stands next to Gabe looking at the computer screen about his world. The screen shows Silver's future in ruin by a catastrophe different from the one he came to 2099 to warn Miguel about. Instead of Alchemax or the Sinister Six ruining the future, the entire world looks to have been conquered by the Eggman Empire instead, with the frightening assistance of Doctor Octopus from the Heroic Age. Statues of Eggman and Octavius are seen everywhere in the ruined world as everyone is living in fear and choking on polluted air, horrifying Silver.

"What happened?! Before it was Alchemax that ruined the world! What changed to make it that Eggman and Doctor Octopus conquered the world?!" Silver asked, greatly confused how his time was changed into another form of chaos, this time caused by Eggman and Doc Ock from the past.

Gabriel is also confused and is left scratching his head, "I don't know, but, it doesn't make sense. You're from 100 years from this era. If your world has changed, then shouldn't that mean…?"

"Uh, Gabe, I know where you're going with this and I think time itself also realized and is answering right now." Silver looks out the window shocked, as right now, the world of 2099 is being consumed by a frightening bright light shifting across the globe. The light catches up to Nueva Vale, consuming it as almost immediately after, it transformed into a corrupted version of itself most likely caused by the evil actions from the past thanks to the Doctors.

"The future…is changing?!" Gabriel remarked, shocked to the heart as his world is slowly changing for the worst.

"Both my time and your time is changing! Something happened in the past that caused this!" Silver said.

"That light is getting closer! What do we do?!" Gabriel asked, seeing the world-changing light approaching the apartment.

"Grab the Webware! We need to go to the past and warn the people of the Heroic Age that the world's in danger! Find Sonic and Spider-Man! They'll help us fix this!" Silver ordered the younger O'Hara.

"Right! Sorry, Miggy, I promise we'll find you later!" Gabriel promised as he swipes the Webware from the desk.

"Let's go!" Silver stood by Gabriel as he activates the Webware, opening a portal that links to the Heroic Age 100 years ago. Silver and Gabriel run through it just in time before the year of 2099 was completely converted into a world of fear by two of the worst mad scientists in history.

**BGM End**

* * *

**New Vale City…100 years ago…In the Raft**

**BGM-Sonic Forces OST-Quickening of Evil**

Unknown to Sonic and Miguel still traveling the multiverse, the Phantom Ruby they are so desperately looking for after the last battle ended up in the Prime Timeline of the United Universe, 100 years before Miguel's time.

The Phantom Ruby sits idly inside a lonely jail cell in the maximum supervillain prison known in this era called the Raft. "What is the world?" A mysterious inmate wearing an orange jumpsuit notices the sudden arrival of the Phantom Ruby in their cell and picks it up. The second they grabbed the stone, they were suddenly confronted with multiple visions based on their heart's desires:

The world surrounded by dangerous satellites.

The entire population of the planet killed and burnt to a crisp by the horrors of global warming which included Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

And finally, the world converted into a technological utopia where the inmate reign supreme above all else.

"Wh-What is this…?" The mystery person dropped the stone in awe, which ends the illusions, much to their confusion and growing interest, "Were those…illusions? No…it was something _more_, I felt it…This _power_…" They picked up the Phantom Ruby again in their palm, staring at it's luster as they become lost in a trance of intrigue, "Power…to change the world _itself_…The keystone to become _superior_…To reign _supreme_…And once I decipher your secrets, the world will finally bow before the superior mind that is Doctor Otto Octavius!" The prime Doctor Octopus of Heroic Age declared smiling with evil eagerness as if it was destiny the Phantom Ruby would come to him after being used by his future counterpart.

The past and future have collided once again and are both in danger. The heroes of the past have no idea a great and terrifying power has been found in their world. The Phantom Ruby. A cosmic gemstone that threatens dimensions, created from their own future, has appeared in this era and taken by one of the worst villains to ever walk the earth. Even if they do join forces against this incoming threat, it might not be enough before their world burns to the ground.

**BGM End**

* * *

**BGM-Sonic Forces OST-Fist Bump (SXSW Ver.)**

**KFX Here: It's been a while since Doctor Octopus was a main villain in this series. Ever since **_**Exo War**_**, Ock has been laying low, either in prison or was busy being mind-controlled by Mysterio from **_**The PHANTOM Menace**_**. Now, Ock returns for his "Big Time" moment that could put the whole world in danger, especially when he reunites with Modern Dr. Eggman. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time I share with you some details about the next big story to close off the Phantom Ruby Saga, **_**Ends of the Earth**_**:**

**This will be an adaptation of both "Sonic Forces" AND "Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth"**

**Episode Shadow from "Sonic Forces" will be adapted as well**

**This next story is to celebrate Spider-Man's 57****th**** anniversary**

**Doctor Octopus Prime and Modern Dr. Eggman will be the main villains**

**Captain Jackal from **_**Cyber Metal Madness **_**will return as Infinite and as one of the main villains**

**Other characters like Green Goblin, Salem, Ms. Marvel, Classic Sonic and Spider-Man 2099 will also return**

**Team RWBY will be wearing their "Volume 7" outfits from the upcoming season of RWBY at the start of the next story**

**The Spider-Armor Mk. IV introduced in **_**Cyber Metal Madness **_**will continue to function as Spider-Man's primary suit**

**Ruby Rose will serve as the "Avatar" character for the next story and gain POSSIBLE character development**

**No Tails being a pussy like in the original game**

**That's all the details I'm giving you until it publishes. Hope everyone looks forward to **_**United Heroes Adventures: Ends of the Earth.**_

**D.N. Works: No confirmation we'll see Classic Eggman and Doc Ock 2099 again in a future story.**

**BGM End**


End file.
